5 Actors Who Auditioned For Harry Potter Earlier than Daniel Radcliffe Bought The Function

Probably the most agonizing a part of Hollywood is all of the near-misses. For each actor who obtained their huge break, there are dozens of actors who nearly obtained it however did not, typically for some arbitrary motive past their management. It should be unhealthy sufficient when this occurs for any random film, not to mention one of many greatest film sequence of all time. For these aspiring actors who missed out on taking part in Harry Potter, they needed to watch Daniel Radcliffe get pleasure from what appeared just like the time of his life for the subsequent ten years. 

The excellent news is that, should you have been ok to nearly get the position of Harry Potter, you have been ok to get different roles. This definitely was the case for a minimum of 5 of the children who auditioned for Harry. How do they really feel about it, and the place are they now? Here is a fast rundown.

It could appear arduous to consider given how completely he embodied the smarmy, good-for-nothing Draco Malfoy, however Tom Felton initially auditioned for each Harry and Ron. The casting administrators even had him dye his hair brown after which crimson to raised obtain every character’s look. Felton misplaced each roles, however there was nonetheless hope: He was the frontrunner to play Draco. They simply needed to dye his hair once more and take a look at him out alongside Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.

Felton appears fairly pleased with the end result. “I am very grateful I’m within the movie in any respect, however much more grateful that I obtained the character of Draco,” Felton mentioned in a 2011 MTV interview, including, “I believe Rupert and Dan, there isn’t any query in my thoughts, there isn’t any one else on the earth that A) may have performed the character higher, however B) may have dealt with the behind-the-scenes stress these guys have handled during the last decade.” 

He is since gone on to jot down an entire e-book in regards to the expertise, and has nothing however sort phrases to say about his fellow “Harry Potter” castmates. Talking about Radcliffe in one other 2011 interview, he mentioned, “Daniel and I’ve commented to one another that we in all probability will not get one other likelihood to work in one other film collectively but when we do, he’d be the unhealthy man and I might be the great one.”

Earlier than Hoult was starring in films like “Nosferatu,” he was making an attempt out for the roles of each Harry and Draco. “I believe I obtained to the purpose the place I auditioned with [Columbus],” he defined in a latest Sizzling Ones interview. “He did not bear in mind this, it wasn’t even a memorable audition. I believe I mentioned, ‘Hey, I auditioned for Harry Potter. Nonetheless ready to listen to again … I believe I am type of going to age out of it quickly.'” Hoult continued:

“I bear in mind doing a few auditions, after which assembly him and possibly having faux glasses for the audition. Not getting the position of Harry, after which possibly coming again and [them] being like, ‘Will you audition for Malfoy?’ I do not suppose I obtained that both, after which [I] simply progressively auditioned for each position in Harry Potter till they have been like, ‘No.'”

Very like Felton, it helps that Hoult did fairly properly for himself afterward. He obtained his breakthrough position within the 2002 comedy “A few Boy,” then starred within the British hit present “Skins.” Fairly quickly he was taking part in Beast within the “X-Males” movies, Nux in “Mad Max: Fury Highway,” and he starred because the worst date ever in 2022’s “The Menu.” And though it is clear he by no means wanted the “Potter” franchise to develop into a star, with the information of the latest reboot, he is joked about auditioning for the position once more. “I believe I can in all probability play 11 nonetheless,” he joked. 

Hoult additionally famous that Christopher Columbus, who directed the primary two “Harry Potter” films, was additionally a producer on “Nosferatu.” He defined, “So I obtained to spend time with him … it is so bizarre the way you type of find yourself working into individuals. And [Columbus] additionally made certainly one of my all-time favourite films, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire,’ in order that was enjoyable and thrilling to spend time with him. I am fan of his, too.”

Liam Aiken is maybe finest recognized for his position as Klaus within the 2004 adaptation of “A Sequence of Unlucky Occasions,” the place he performed a downtrodden orphan boy with darkish, messy hair. It is a position that appears awfully acquainted to “Harry Potter” followers, particularly since this film was additionally adapting the primary e-book in a multi-part children’ sequence. OK, it isn’t an ideal comparability — this film mixed three books into one, and it tragically by no means obtained a sequel — however it nonetheless made clear that Aiken in all probability may’ve nailed the Harry position. 

Sadly, he too missed out, allegedly due to his American origins. As New York Journal reported on the time, “Director Chris Columbus was set on him. However Rowling decreed that solely a full-blooded Brit may play Harry.” 

The excellent news is that Aiken gave the impression to be good sport about the entire thing: “I believe I had this sense that it would not work out,” Aiken mentioned on the subject. “However it was tremendous. I hadn’t carried out a lot earlier than, and I might have simply been Harry Potter from then on.” As an alternative, he loved the liberty that comes with not being tied to any particular position. Whereas Radcliffe was caught taking part in Harry all through the 2000s, Aiken obtained to star in “Highway to Perdition” and a number of “Regulation & Order” episodes. He’d additionally go on to briefly seem in season 6 of “Mad Males,” taking part in a sleazy teenager who will get beat up.

“I used to be up for Harry Potter approach, approach again, however I do not fairly match the invoice, I believe,” Mosely remarked in a 2008 interview. However very similar to Aiken earlier than him, Mosely was destined to star in yet one more kid-friendly e-book sequence adaptation: “The Chronicles of Narnia.” He starred as Peter, the oldest and chillest of the Pevensie siblings, first in “The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe” in 2005, once more in “Prince Caspian” in 2008, and eventually in “Voyage of the Daybreak Treader” in 2010.

“It might have been enjoyable,” he mentioned about his missed “Potter” position, “however I used to be pondering the opposite day, if I may have chosen one half for myself, I might have chosen Peter each single time. It is a dream come true to play an element that is so heroic, and one thing that is profitable that folks like. It is such a privilege.”

Since his “Narnia” days, he is gone on to star within the British TV drama “The Royals” in 2015, and popped up briefly as “Italian Man” within the 2020 movie “Artemis Fowl.” (This was one other adaptation of a children’ e-book sequence, one which’s typically in comparison with “Harry Potter” as a result of its protagonist that is meant to develop up with the reader.) For probably the most half, Mosely hasn’t been in any large initiatives lately, however these Narnia films of his (particularly that first one) are nonetheless widespread rewatches. 

One other actor who did not fairly make it as Harry was Jamie Campbell Bower, who recalled in a 2022 interview how he’d made a unclean joke through the audition that blew his possibilities. As he defined:

“I had simply heard this joke a few fairy, like, the explanation why the fairy sits on prime of the Christmas tree. And it is a actually, like, soiled joke, as a result of it is in regards to the Christmas tree up any person’s backside. And I advised this joke within the audition, and there was once more, this type of air of silence after I mentioned it. And I used to be like, ‘Properly, f—ed that up.”

Bower would get his shot at starring within the franchise, nevertheless. In “Deathly Hallows: Half 1,” he starred briefly as younger Grindelwald, a darkish wizard from Dumbledore’s youthful days. Not solely would he reprise this position within the “Improbable Beasts” film, however he’d go on to play the vampire Caius within the “Twilight” sequence, in addition to Jace in “The Mortal Devices: Metropolis of Bones.” He might have missed his shot at Harry, however his instincts to audition for the position weren’t fallacious; this man was destined to star in younger grownup film diversifications. 

Most lately you’ll find Bower taking part in the villain Henry Creel/Vecna in season 4 of “Stranger Issues,” and he is anticipated to return with the much-anticipated season 5. So in different phrases, Bower’s had a formidable profession to this point, even when he by no means obtained to be The Boy Who Lived. And though he may be too previous to play Harry now, he may all the time audition for the position of Harry’s dad in the upcoming TV adaptation.