Alan Cumming was almost cast as Gilderoy Lockhart in the first “Harry Potter” sequel. That is, until he told the producers to “f— off.”
“I didn’t turn it down,” Cumming said in an interview with The Telegraph. “I told them to f— off!”
According to Cumming, he and “Another Country” star Rupert Everett were both up for the part of the vain and bumbling professor in 2002’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” Cumming said he dropped out of the running after negotiations over pay fell through.
“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,” he said.