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.
Everett and Cumming shared the same agent, so Cumming said he knew Everett was being offered more money. “Blatantly lying, stupidly lying, as well,” he said. “Like, if you’re going to lie, be clever about it.”
The part eventually went to Kenneth Branagh, who, as Cumming described it, “came out of the shadows.”
The “Harry Potter” film franchise ran for eight films between 2001 and 2011. In celebration of the upcoming 20th anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” WarnerMedia is set to debut a quiz-style game show and retrospective special on HBO Max, Cartoon Network and TBS later this year. The company has denied reports of a potential scripted series in the works at the streaming service.