‘It Was A Ton Of Money’: James McAvoy Auditioned For Harry Potter Role Years Ago And Was Offered Big Bucks. Why He Ultimately Turned It Down
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James McAvoy has a massive body of work, which includes the X-Men films and romantic dramas like Atonement and Becoming Jane. He's also explored horror with flicks like Split and IT: Chapter 2. What he's yet to tackle, though, is the Harry Potter series, while plenty of other U.K.-born actors have. However, it turns out McAvoy was almost part of the franchise and was offered a large chunk of change to join. Now, he's opening up about his theoretical role and why he turned it down.
The veteran actor recently spoke to Josh Horowitz of the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, on which they discussed his critically acclaimed horror movie, Speak No Evil, and more. When asked if there was a genre or franchise he’d like to be a part of, he didn’t have an answer but did reveal that he almost played a key role in the Harry Potter films towards the beginning of his acting career. It seems he was courted to play a certain antagonist in one of the series' earliest entries:
I was nearly in Harry Potter. Almost, yeah. I can probably say this one. The very first movie, I think it was… who is the… is it Tom Riddle in the first one, yeah? But he's like in it for like a scene in a flashback or something like that? And they had — I simply remember it was right at the beginning of my career. I auditioned for it. I think they wanted to put me on a retainer, and they offered me something like — it was crazy, I’d hardly done any work. And me and I think maybe 10 other actors or something like that — they wanted to put us on a retainer so that they could hold us and keep us to choose later who it would be.
Based on context, it seems the actor was in talks to play Tom Riddle (the young man who would become Lord Voldemort) in the second Potter film, The Chamber of Secrets. Ultimately, the role was (quite impressively) played by Christian Coulson in the 2002 film. The part of teen Riddle was also eventually taken on by Frank Dillane in 2009's Half-Blood Prince.
It’s actually a much bigger part than the Glass star lets on. He would’ve played a pivotal role in the middle of the film, where Harry Potter enters Riddle’s diary, which reveals a warped version of the past. He would've also been in the third act, where Harry battles Riddle in the titular chamber.
The payday for the role was also significant, and James McAvoy considered it to be quite a lot of money, especially considering he didn’t have many credits under his belt. As you can hear in the YouTube video, he said:
It was a really strange thing, and they offered quite a lot of money. For me, at that time, it was a ton of money. it was like ￡40,000 or something like that, and I'd done very little work.
The Harry Potter movies famously paid well, so it's not too surprising to hear that the studio offered the then-up-and-coming actor serious cash. Even though it seemed like a good offer, there was a drawback. Being on retainer meant to that James McAvoy would be unable to work on other productions for a fixed amount of time. As he further explained, his agent gave him a direct response when sharing her take on that, at the time:
I’d done very little work, and I wouldn’t be able to do any work for about seven months, I think it was. And I said to my agent, ‘What do you think?’ And Ruth Young — who’s been my agent for 24 years at least, 25 maybe. She was like, ‘Absolutely not. Don’t do that.’ And she was like, ‘We’re gonna go and do something else.’
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James McAvoy instead starred in a play, which he said received boos from homophobic audience members. Yet, aside from rude crowds, the actor stated that taking on a stage role proved to an excellent learning experience. As he put it, the job expanded his knowledge and range as an actor. While it didn't yield the check that Harry Potter would have written him, it likely was best for him as a performer.
The Wanted alum is now a big enough star where he could definitely appear in the Wizarding World in the future if he so desired. There is currently a Harry Potter series in development at Max, and James McAvoy may just be the right fit for one of the Marauders or quirky professors. His range is incredible, and I’m sure he’d nail anything he decided to take on in the future.
You can see James McAvoy in his latest film, Speak No Evil, which is currently playing in theaters nationwide. Fans of the Harry Potter franchise can also revisit the movie series now using a Max subscription. For more information on other exciting titles heading to cinemas and streaming in the near future, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule.