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Why Alan Cumming told ‘Harry Potter’ producers to ‘f–k off’ when they offered him a role
Alan Cumming has claimed that when given a role in the billion-dollar Harry Potter franchise, he urged the producers to “fuck off.”
The “Good Wife” star, 56, was a contender in 2002 for the role of Hogwarts professor Gilderoy Lockhart in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” with Rupert Everett and Hugh Grant. Cumming explains why he turned down the coveted position in an interview with the Telegraph.
“I didn’t turn it down,” he clarified to The Telegraph. “I told them to f–k off!” Cumming’s response was triggered by an apparent financial dispute.
“They wanted me and Rupert Everett to do a screen test, and they said they couldn’t pay me more than a certain sum, they just didn’t have any more money in the budget,” Cumming explained.
“And I had the same agent as Rupert, who of course, they were going to pay more. Blatantly lying, stupidly lying, as well. Like, if you’re going to lie, be clever about it,” Cumming recalled. “I said, tell them to fuck right off. And thought, well Rupert’s going to get the part.”
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Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint played the major characters in the Harry Potter film franchise, which ended in 2011.
Cumming added, recalling his chat with his agency, “I said, tell them to f**k right off. And thought, well Rupert’s going to get the part. They made him screen test, and I remember he brought his own wig.
“And then they f**king gave it to Kenneth Branagh, came out of the shadows.”
Cumming played Mayor Menlove in the Apple TV+ comedic musical series “Schmigadoon!” and provided the voice for the controversial HBO Max sitcom “The Prince.”
Cumming’s remarks regarding Harry Potter come about a week after franchise actor Daniel Radcliffe said that if the series was revived, he would not want to play Harry. “I would probably want to go with like, Sirius or Lupin,” Radcliffe said to Game Night presenter Josh Horowitz. “Those were always the two characters that I was like ‘They’re great.’ And also like, I’m obviously biased by my experience of filming those scenes, with those people, and they’re like some of my favorite memories.”
The Harry Potter film franchise concluded after eight films, grossing more than $7 billion at the box office since its inception in 2001.
Hugh Grant was previously rumored to have turned down the role of Lockhart owing to schedule difficulties – and he wasn’t the first actor to reject a role in the blockbuster film series.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” WarnerMedia is planning a quiz-style game show and retrospective special on HBO Max, Cartoon Network, and TBS later this year.
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