Harry Potter Producers Humiliated Potential Professor Lockhart: 'I Told Them to F*** Off!'
The actor that almost became Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was pissed off by the movie producers who shamelessly lied to his face.
Typically, when there's a casting for a big role, the producers already have some actors they'd like to see play it in mind, so they create a shortlist.
The Harry Potter movies were no exception: all central characters were played by brilliant performers, but sometimes, not the ones who made it to the initial shortlist.
We all remember Gilderoy Lockhart, the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher who first makes his appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
In the movie, he was portrayed by Kenneth Branagh, and while he did an amazing job, he wasn't the first pick of the producers as they were choosing between two other actors.
The producers' shortlist included Rupert Everett and Alan Cumming, and they were both invited to try on the role of Professor Lockhart.
After the screen tests, Cumming received an offer — but despite getting a chance to star in the popular-by-default franchise, the actor was furious when he received it.
As it turns out, The Chamber of Secrets producers failed to realize that Cumming and Everett shared the same agent…
And they offered a far less impressive sum to Alan than they did to his counterpart, claiming that they just didn't have enough budget for a higher salary.
Sure enough, the agent told Cumming about that offer difference, and the actor was pissed. Instead of accepting the offer or politely declining, he, quote, "told them to f*** off." Even when recalling these events years later, Alan was still outraged.
"Blatantly lying, stupidly lying, as well. Like, if you're going to lie, be clever about it. I said, tell them to f*** right off," the actor told The Telegraph.
After rejecting the offer, Alan was sure that Rupert Everett would get the role — and somehow, this didn't happen, either. Instead, a completely new actor was chosen to play Professor Lockhart.
Cumming found it insulting to his main competitor after everything that'd already happened, including the offer Everett received.
"[I] 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***ing gave it to Kenneth Branagh, came out of the shadows," said Alan.
We can't help but sympathize with him. Being lied to is always unpleasant. Being lied to in such a dumb way is annoying. And being lied to in such a dumb way to later realize there was literally no reason for it is straight-up infuriating.
Of course, we're glad that, in the end, Kenneth Branagh nailed the character. But it's just so hard to understand what was going on in The Chamber of Secrets producers' heads when they were attempting these ridiculous manipulations…
Source: The Telegraph