Michael Cera turned down ‘Harry Potter’ spin-off role over fears it would make him “too famous”

Michael Cera has revealed he turned down a role in the Fantastic Beasts films because he feared it would make him “too famous”.

The Superbad and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World star was speaking on a recent episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast when he admitted that he has deliberately avoided committing to major Hollywood franchises in his career.

It was one offer in particular that stood out in his memory – a role in the Harry Potter spin-off series, which has so far consisted of three feature films.

“I don’t even know if I was offered [a role in Fantastic Beasts],” he said. “I think I just declined to engage with it because I think it would be like probably six years commitment or something”.

“But also, I did sort of make a conscientious choice to limit my exposure a little bit, or just try and be a little more in control of it. And I felt like doing, especially little kids’ movies, I had a big fear of doing things that I would get too famous.”

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was the first film in the series in 2016, with Eddie Redmayne playing the wizard Newt Scamander. It is believed Cera was in talks to play the Muggle character Jacob Kowalski in the film, but that role was ultimately filled by Dan Fogler.

Cera did go on to suggest that he might consider such a role again now, however. “I think I’ve outgrown that particular feeling, but I think that’s what that was at that time,” he said. “If a franchise came along now and seemed interesting, I don’t think on the grounds of it being a franchise I would storm out of the office or anything.”

Last month, Cera spoke to NME about finally meeting Jackie Chan in the corridors of BBC Radio 2 – only for Chan to have no idea who he was.

“When I met him though, he was like ‘who is this person, what’s going on?’,” Cera said. “We took a picture but I think he thought I was a competition winner. He was like, ‘OK let’s do a picture real quick. Come on.’ Not rudely. But I felt like I was invading his little personal time with his team before he goes on the radio. So I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’ But everyone was very sweet and I got to meet Jackie.”

Cera is currently starring in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “As ever, Anderson really cranks up the knowing whimsy. We see Korda grappling with his conscience in dream sequences where God is played by Bill Murray – who else? But The Phoenician Scheme never becomes smug or too self-referential; it’s simply a lot of fun peppered with unexpected bursts of action, a new addition to the Anderson arsenal.”

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