For some reason, Christmas isn’t really Christmas without a trip down memory lane and into our old stash of Harry Potter DVDs. Perhaps it’s all the snowy walks to Hogsmeade, or the grand feasts featured in the Great Hall, but there’s something undeniably festive about the Harry Potter and his magical world.
Robin Williams Was Rejected For One Of The Biggest Harry Potter Roles
By
Editorial Staff in
Entertainment
On 4th January 2017
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However, for much beloved American actor Robin Williams, who passed away in 2014, I'm sure he didn't look back over the films with quite the same festive feeling of goodwill. That's because, way back before the films had even begun shooting, Williams called up director Christopher Columbus and asked him if he could play Hagrid.
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Christopher Columbus, who directed the first Harry Potter movie, was the one tasked with rejecting the Oscar-winning actor. The filmmaker had previously worked with Williams in 1999's Bicentennial Man and 1993's iconic Mrs Doubtfire, so the two knew each other well. Awkward.
Of course, we all know Columbus' answer, since the part was eventually played to much acclaim by British actor Robbie Coltrane. According to Potter legend, Coltrane was author JK Rowling's first choice for the role.
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So why would one of the world's most famous directors reject one of the world's most famous actors for a role in what was to be one of the world's most famous films? The answer, it turns out, was a matter of not breaking JK Rowling's strict rule of British only actors.
The tidbit was revealed in a new interview by Huffington Post with Potter casting director Janet Hirshenson. In it, she said:
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"Robin [Williams] had called [director Chris Columbus] because he really wanted to be in the movie, but it was a British-only edict, and once he said no to Robin, he wasn't going to say yes to anybody else, that's for sure. It couldn't be."
