The ‘Split’ star addressed why he chose to walk away from the job early in his career.
James McAvoy was nearly cast as He Who Must Not Be Named at the start of his career.
During an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Split actor revealed that while the chance could have been rich, it would have kept him sidelined for seven months.
“I was nearly in Harry Potter,” McAvoy, 45, remarked, adding how producers wanted to put him and many other actors on retainer. “They offered quite a lot of money — 40 thousand pounds or something like that — but I wouldn’t have been able to work for seven months.”
After talking with his agent, McAvoy declined the offer. Instead, he chose to participate in a play, where he joked about being “booed by a homophobic gentleman” and earning a quarter of what the Potter role would have cost.
“No regrets,” McAvoy said. “It was part of the making of me. I was actually learning and doing all that.”
Christian Coulson finally played young Tom Riddle in Chamber of Secrets, while Ralph Fiennes’ nephew Hero Fiennes Tiffin portrayed a younger version of the character in Half-Blood Prince.
Fans continue to speculate on what it might have been like if McAvoy had played the legendary role.