James McAvoy Says He Was Offered 'A Ton of Money' to Star in “Harry Potter” Before He Got Famous

"For me, at that time, it was a ton of money, it was like £40,000 or something like that," McAvoy said

James McAvoy turned down a potential role in Harry Potter to find more consistent work as a young actor.

While McAvoy, 45, promoted his new movie Speak No Evil on the Friday, Sept. 13, episode Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor said he "was nearly in" Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in response to a question about whether he may be interested in taking a role as a Hogwarts teacher or in a Star Wars project down the line.

"Almost, yeah, I can probably say this one. The very first movie, I think it was — who is the — is it Tom Riddle in the first one, yeah? But he's like in it... for like a scene in a flashback or something like that? And they had — I simply remember it was right in the beginning of my career," he said.

"I auditioned for it and I think they wanted to put me on a retainer," McAvoy added. "And they offered me something like - it was crazy, I'd 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 that they could hold us and keep us to choose later."

While McAvoy did not entirely clarify what role he was up for, he described the offer as "a really strange thing" and said the offer featured a hefty sum for an up-and-coming young actor. "For me, at that time, it was a ton of money, it was like £40,000 or something like that, and I'd done very little work," he added.

Related: HBO's Harry Potter Series Announces Open Call for Harry, Ron, Hermione: 'We Are Committed to Inclusive, Diverse Casting'

Because of the offer's retainer clause, McAvoy said if he agreed to the contract, he "wouldn't be able to do any work for about seven months" and that his agent Ruth Young told him not to accept the offer.

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"And she was like we're going to go do something else, and I ended up doing the play [where] I got booed by a homophobic gentleman," he added. "I did that instead and I think got paid £275 a week. But it was part of the making of me, and I actually got in acting work. I was actually learning and doing all that."

Related: Matthew Lewis Remembers First Day on Harry Potter Set — Filming on a Broomstick: 'I Was Terrified' (Exclusive)

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When podcast host Josh Horowitz asked McAvoy in jest whether he would now audition for the franchise's lead role in the in-the-works HBO television adaptation, the actor did not appear interested in venturing to Hogwarts.

"I don't know if there's anything that I'm really missing in terms of what I've covered. I don't think I've done enough sci-fi, just because I love it," he said, pointing to his role in 2003's Children of Dune and the X-Men movies. "I don't think I've done enough comedy but I've been able to be funny in things that aren't funny. Always trying to bring the gags."

Speak No Evil is now in theaters.

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