X-Men Star Nearly Became Harry Potter Icon
These days, James McAvoy has few regrets about his career, and we can’t exactly blame him…after all, he has headlined multiple major franchises, including the X-Men prequel films. It turns out, though, that he nearly became part of another major franchise, one that might have changed his career forever. According to James McAvoy, he nearly played young Voldemort (Tom Riddle) in the sequel film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
James McAvoy Turned Down The Role Of Tom Riddle
In his recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, James McAvoy described auditioning for the role of the Harry Potter antagonist. The audition went well, and they offered the young actor a very large amount of money ($52,000) to take the part. However, he ultimately turned down the opportunity because he would have to hold off on getting any other work for seven months due to the casting department’s strange retainer system.
Harry Potter’s Bizarre Retainer Rules
James McAvoy said that the retainer system for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets worked like this: he and about 10 other actors did well enough in the auditions that Warner Bros. “wanted to put us on a retainer so they could hold us and keep us to choose later.” The actor noted that this practice was “a really strange thing.” Still, as a young actor trying to make his mark, he had to decide whether to take the easy payday and play a small role in this popular genre franchise.
McAvoy Believes He Made The Right Choice
Of course, James McAvoy ended up declining the offer to appear in this first Harry Potter sequel, and he did this due to the solid advice of his agent. Under the agent’s advice, the actor walked away from this easy payday and ended up taking a far humbler stage acting role where he earned only $360 a week. Despite the fact that he “got booed by a homophobic gentleman” while performing, he now credits this stage role as the performance that fully transformed him into an actor.
Went On To Take Great Roles
Perhaps because of that transformation or perhaps because it was just good career advice in general, James McAvoy still retains the same agent who once advised him to walk away from Harry Potter. Obviously, the agent is able to get great results, helping the actor secure roles in critically acclaimed films such as Atonement and The Last King of Scotland. McAvoy also became something of a genre legend, starring in Split and Glass (the second and third parts of M. Night Shyamalan’s superhero trilogy) and the X-Men prequel films, which helped bring that franchise back to life.
Still No Interest In Joining The Wizarding World
While James McAvoy may have some serious experience bringing flagging franchises back to life thanks to his time as a Marvel star, he still doesn’t want to be part of Harry Potter, recently showing little interest in potentially being part of the HBO series reboot of the films.
Such choices allow him to take on far quirkier roles, including the upcoming remake of Speak No Evil whose movie trailer manages to haunt us after every single trip to the theater. He may no longer hang around with the mutants, but McAvoy’s creepy performance in that trailer always leaves us quoting the old Juggernaut meme: “get out my head, Charles!”
Source: Happy Sad Confused
