November 23, 2011 10:10

Daniel Radcliffe 'almost turned down 'Harry Potter''

The former child actor reflects on how different his life might have gone

Daniel Radcliffe has revealed that he almost turned down the chance to play Harry Potter.

The actor has just signed off from the epic wizarding saga, which has seen him play the role since childhood. But now he has revealed that things were almost very different, since his parents initially would not let him commit to so much time way.

He told the Hollywood Reporter:

Chris Columbus had seen David Copperfield and said, 'I want to audition this boy'. They went to my parents, and, at the time, the deal was to sign on for, I think, six films, all to be done in LA, and my mum and dad simply said, 'That's too much disruption to his life. That's not gonna happen'.

Director Columbus was apparently so keen to get Radcliffe that he had the length of the initial contract reduced, and filming relocated to the UK.

Radcliffe continued: "I didn’t know any of that had gone on. And then, maybe three, four months down the line, the deal had changed and it was going to be to shoot two films, and they’d both be done in England, and so they said, 'OK, we'll let him audition'. And then it all went from there really."

He added that he is ambivalent about the profile playing the part has given him: "There are, obviously, upsides to it, but I'd say that the upsides, for me, are the upsides that come from my job rather than from the celebrity aspect. I mean, celebrity is horrible - that's the truth, is that it's a ghastly, vile thing."

You can watch a the trailer for Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 at the top of the page.