Los Angeles: “It Chapter Two” star James McAvoy says he was offered a hefty sum to play the younger version of main antagonist Lord Voldemort (whose real name was Tom Riddle) in the “Harry Potter” film series.
The Scottish actor, known for starring in popular film series such as “X-Men” and “Unbreakable”, said he turned down a role in the first film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” because it would have required too much time.
During his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, when the actor was asked if he would like to play a character in the “Harry Potter” or “Star Wars” franchise, McAvoy said: “Almost, yeah, that’s probably what I would say. I think it was the first movie… who is it, is it Tom Riddle in the first movie, yes? But he’s in it… for a flashback scene or something like that? And they did that, I just remember it was early on in my career.”
The 45-year-old actor said he had auditioned for the role and the producers wanted to keep him on a retainer basis.
“And they offered me something like that – 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 retainer so they could hold us and keep us to pick up later. For me, at the time, it was a lot of money, it was £40,000 or something like that, and I’d done very little work,” he said.
“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, released in 2001, was directed by Chris Columbus. It starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in the lead roles.
The character of Tom Riddle played a major role in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” the second book and film in the franchise. Christian Coulson eventually played the role in the 2002 film.
Ralph Fiennes has played the adult Lord Voldemort since “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the fourth film in the eight-part franchise, while his nephew Hero Tiffin Fiennes played the young Tom Riddle in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
McAvoy made his acting debut in 1995 with David Heyman-directed “The Near Room”. He then appeared in projects such as “Wimbledon” and “Inside I’m Dancing”.
His latest work is James Watkins’ psychological horror drama “Speak No Evil,” which released on September 13.
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