‘It Chapter Two’ star James McAvoy says he was offered a hefty sum to play the young 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 the Unbreakable trilogy, 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 told: “Almost, yeah, I would probably say that. The first film, I think it was… who is, is it Tom Riddle in the first film, yes? But he’s in… a scene in a flashback or something like that? And they did, I just remember it was early on in my career.” The 45-year-old added that 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 debilitated, I had 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 (about US$52,000) or something like that, and I had 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 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.
Since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film in the eight-part franchise, Ralph Fiennes has played the adult Lord Voldemort, while his nephew Hero Tiffin Fiennes played the young Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). McAvoy began his acting career in 1995 with the David Heyman-directed film The Near Room. He then became part of projects such as Wimbledon (2004) and Inside I’m Dancing (2004). His most recent work is James Watkins’ psychological horror drama Speak No Evil, which hits screens on September 13.
