'It was a hell of a lot of money': James McAvoy auditioned for a role in Harry Potter years ago and was offered a huge sum of money. Why he ultimately turned it down

James McAvoy has a considerable body of work, which includes X-Men romantic movies and dramas like Atonement And Becoming JaneHe also explored horror with films like Divide And IT: Chapter 2. What he still has to address, however, is the Harry Potter The series, while many other British-born actors have done so. However, it turns out that McAvoy almost made it into the franchise and was offered a large sum of money to join. Today, he opens up about his theoretical role and why he turned it down.

The veteran actor recently spoke to Josh Horowitz about the Happy, sad, confused podcast, on which they discussed his Critically acclaimed horror film, Don’t say anything badand more. When asked if there was a genre or franchise he would like to be a part of, he didn’t have an answer but revealed that he almost played a key role in Harry Potter films towards the beginning of his acting career. It seems that he was courted to play a certain antagonist in one of the early entries in the series:

I almost did Harry Potter. Almost, yeah. I can probably say that one. The very first movie, I think it was… who’s the… is that Tom Riddle in the first one, yeah? But he’s in it for a flashback scene or something? And they had… I just remember it was very early in my career. I auditioned for it. I think they wanted to sign me, and they offered me something like… it was crazy, I had hardly worked. And me and maybe 10 other actors or something… they wanted to sign us so they could keep us and pick who it would be later.

From the context, it seems the actor was in talks to play Tom Riddle (the young man who would become Lord Voldemort) in the second Potter movie, The Chamber of Secrets. Eventually, the role was (somewhat impressively) played by Christian Coulson in the 2002 film. The role of the teenage Riddle was also eventually taken over by Frank Dillane in the 2009 film. Half-Blood Prince.

It is actually a much larger part than the Glass The star confides. He would have played a central role in the middle of the film, when Harry Potter enters Riddle’s diary, which reveals a distorted version of the past. He would also have appeared in the third act, where Harry fights Riddle in the title room.

Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The salary for the role was also substantial, and James McAvoy considered it to be a pretty hefty sum, especially considering he didn’t have many credits under his belt. As you can hear in the YouTube video, he said:

It was really strange, and they offered me a lot of money. For me, at the time, it was a huge amount of money. It was about £40,000 or something, and I had done very little work.

THE Harry Potter Movies are known to be well paid.It’s not too surprising, then, to learn that the studio offered the then-up-and-coming actor a hefty sum. While it seemed like a good deal, there was a downside. Being under contract meant that James McAvoy would be unable to work on any other productions for a set period of time. As he later explained, his agent gave him a straightforward answer when he expressed his views on the matter at the time:

I had done very little work and I couldn’t have worked for seven months, I think. So I asked my agent, “What do you think?” And Ruth Young, who’s been my agent for 24 years at least, 25 maybe, said, “Absolutely not. Don’t do it.” And she said, “We’ll do something else.”

James McAvoy instead starred in a play, which he said was met with boos from homophobic audience members. Still, rude crowds aside, the actor said that acting was a great learning experience. As he put it, the job expanded his knowledge and scope as an actor. While he didn’t take home the check that Harry Potter I would have written to him, it was probably better for him as an interpreter.

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THE Research is now a big enough star that he could definitely appear in the wizarding world in the future if he wanted to. There is currently a Harry Potter series in development at Maxand James McAvoy might just be the perfect candidate for one of the Marauders or the eccentric professors. His range is incredible, and I’m sure he would succeed at anything he decided to do in the future.

You can see James McAvoy in his latest film, Don’t say anything badwhich is currently showing in cinemas across the country. Fans of the Harry Potter The franchise can also revisit the film series now using a Max subscription. For more information on other exciting titles coming soon to theaters and streaming, be sure to check out our 2024 Movie Release Schedule.