"I auditioned for it"— James McAvoy recalls how he almost played Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

James McAvoy recently revealed how he "almost" played the role of Tom Riddle in Harry Potter, but he rejected the opportunity after his agent advised him not to do it.

The actor joined Josh Horowitz on Friday, September 13, in an episode of the latter's Happy Sad Confused podcast to talk about his movies, the ones he worked on, and those he passed on. During their conversation, McAvoy revealed that he was "nearly in Harry Potter" to play Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort. However, the "strange" part of the deal led him to pass. He explained:

"I auditioned for it and I think they wanted to put me on a retainer. I'd hardly done any work [at that time]. And me and I think ten other actors, they wanted to put us on retainer so they could hold us and keep us to choose later who it would be. It was a really strange thing."

The Glass actor further claimed that he was "offered quite a lot of money," around 40,000 pounds, which he thought was "a lot" at the time. However, with the "retainer," he explained that he wouldn't have been able to work on any other project for seven months. When he asked for his agent's opinion about the deal, he said that she advised him against doing it.

James McAvoy added that he took her agent's advice and passed on playing Tom Riddle in Harry Potter. He instead took on a role for the stage play Out in the Open, where he was paid 275 pounds weekly. He admitted that he was booed by a "homophobic gentleman" during his performance in the play.

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James McAvoy said he wants to do more sci-fi and comedy

Elsewhere in the interview, James McAvoy revealed what he wants to do more of in terms of his acting career. When Horowitz said that McAvoy could play Harry Potter in the reboot, explaining that he still looks young enough to do it, the actor opted for a non-direct answer. Instead, he explained what kind of projects he wanted to do more of, saying:

"I don't know if there is anything I'm really missing in terms of what I've covered [but] I don't think I've done enough sci-fi, just because I love it."

The Split actor also explained that he hadn't done enough comedy but that he's been "able to be funny in things that aren't comedies." Horowitz agreed, saying that he can "personally attest" that McAvoy is a "gifted comedian."

Meanwhile, the Harry Potter TV reboot doesn't have a cast yet, but Variety reported on September 9 that the series had opened a casting call for Harry, Ron, and Hermoine's characters.

As for James McAvoy, his latest horror flick, Speak No Evil, hit movie theaters on September 13. He plays Paddy in the movie, one-half of the murderous English couple alongside Aisling Franciosi's Ciara Feld, who targets an American expat family vacationing in Tuscany.