Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich has emerged as the frontrunner to play Han Solo in a standalone movie set in the Star Wars universe, overtaking Irish favourite Jack Reynor.
The 26-year-old American actor reportedly put in "an impressive performance" in his screen test, sources with knowledge of the casting process told US entertainment website Deadline.
Casting for the highly-contested role, immortalised by Harrison Ford in the original Star Wars films, has been shrouded in secrecy, and the shortlist to play the character was narrowed down to a handful of actors including Reynor, Ehrenreich and English actor Taron Egerton who lit up the screen in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Jack Reynor one of the shortlisted actors to play young Han Solo
Reynor's name was first linked to the film late last year. In January he told MTV News that playing Han Solo would be "an incredible gig to get".
"You've got to fill some pretty seriously big boots there, man," he said. "We're talking Harrison Ford here, dude.
"He's not a chump, you know what I mean? You can't do imitation; you can't try and just emulate what that is. It's got to be something new, and it's also got to be something that the audience is going to respond to."
'Would that it were so simple'
Relative newcomer Ehrenreich put in a stand-out performance in the Coen brothers Hail, Caesar! in particular his scenes with Ralph Fiennes, who played the exasperated British thesbian-turned-director, trying to coach him in the mannerly dialogue of his Edwardian drawing room drama.
He also landed the lead in Warren Beatty's upcoming Howard Hughes film, which is currently untitled and expected to be released later this year.
Disney's Han Solo film will focus on a younger version of the interstellar gunslinger in the days before he joined forces with the rebel alliance.
It is scheduled to hit cinemas on May 25, 2018 and will be directed by The Lego Movie's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
