It seemed like every actor in the United Kingdom popped up somewhere in the Harry Potter film series. There were eight movies, and that meant they needed a lot of teachers — and, eventually, evil wizards — thus keeping the nation’s thespians employed. There were some notable exceptions. For instance, Alan Cumming — who can most recently be seen on Schmigadoon! — never made an appearance. But it’s not like they didn’t ask him.
In a new interview with The Telegraph (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), the Tony-winning actor was asked about the time he was asked to play Gilderoy Lockhart, the ill-fated Hogwarts professor, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The role went to Kenneth Branagh, but only after he said no. But Cumming said his refusal was a bit more emphatic than that.
“I didn’t turn it down,” Cumming told the British newspaper. “I told them to f*ck off!”
The reason? It involved money, as well as duplicity on the studio’s part. “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 recalled. “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.
“I said, tell them to f*ck right off,” he added. “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*cking gave it to Kenneth Branagh, came out of the shadows.”
But Cumming still got a hefty pay day: The same year Chamber of Secrets came out, he appeared as Nightcrawler in X2, the second X-Men movie. So it all worked out in the end.
(Via The Telegraph and EW)
