James McAvoy Says He Was Offered 'A Ton of Money' to Star in Harry Potter Before He Got Famous

James McAvoy turned down a potential role in Harry Potter find more consistent work as a young actor.

While McAvoy (45) was promoting his new film Do not speak evil on the Friday, September 13, episode Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor said he “almost got in” Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in response to the question of whether he might be interested in a role as a teacher at Hogwarts or in the Star Wars project down the line.

“Almost, yeah, I can probably say this one. The first movie, I think it was – who is – is that Tom Riddle in the first one, yeah? But he’s like in it… because like a flashback scene or something? And they had – I just remember it was at the very beginning of my career,” he said.

“I auditioned for it and I think they wanted to put me in as an understudy,” McAvoy added. “And they offered me something like — it was crazy, I was barely working — and I and I think maybe 10 other actors or something — they wanted to put us on retainer so they could keep us and keep us cast later.”

While McAvoy didn’t fully clarify which role he was up for, he described the offer as “a really weird thing” and said it was a hefty sum for a young, up-and-coming actor. “It was a ton of money for me at the time, about £40,000 or so, and I was doing very little,” he added.

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James McAvoy (center) in ‘Queen of Bollywood’ (2002).

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Because of the reserve clause in the offer, McAvoy said that if he accepted the deal, he “wouldn’t be able to do any work for about seven months” and that his agent, Ruth Young, had told him not to accept the offer.

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“And she was like we’re going to go do something else and I ended up doing a play [where] I got booed by a homophobic gentleman,” he added. “I did it instead and I think I got paid £275 a week. But it was part of my creation, and I actually got into acting. I actually studied and did all that.”

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James McAvoy in ‘Rory O’Shea Was Here’ (2004).

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When podcast host Josh Horowitz jokingly asked McAvoy if he would now audition for the lead role in HBO’s ongoing television adaptation of the franchise, the actor didn’t seem interested in going to Hogwarts.

“I don’t know if there’s anything I’m really missing in terms of what I’ve been covering. I don’t think I’ve done enough sci-fi, just because I love it,” he said, pointing to his role in 2003 Children of Dune and The X-Men movies. “I don’t think I’ve done enough comedy, but I’ve managed to be funny in things that aren’t funny. I’m always trying to bring the gags.”

Do not speak evil it’s in theaters now.

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Source: HIS Education