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Rik Mayall revealed how he was cut from the final version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone despite filming for three weeks.
The late comic and actor, who died in 2014 aged 56, was cast as mischievous Hogwarts ghost Peeves in the first Harry Potter film, which was released in 2001.
Mayall died of a heart attack on June 9 in 2014 at his home in Richmond-upon-Thames, London after returning home from a routine morning jog.
Years before his death, he was due to star alongside fellow British comedy legend John Cleese, who played ghost Nearly-Headless Nick in the Philosopher’s Stone.
Peeves was a minor character in the first book and was often known for causing havoc for the students, and Mayall was informed of the role by his agent.
However, Peeves didn’t make the cut and never appeared in any of the Harry Potter films, with the character completely removed from the entire series.
Peeves was cut from the final version of the Philosopher’s Stone (Picture: Warner Bros.)
Mayall’s portrayal of Peeves was ultimately cut from the film (Picture: Warner Bros.)
After the saga became one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time, Mayall revealed lots of behind-the-scenes secrets about his time on set.
In a newly-resurfaced video that is now doing the rounds on social media again, Mayall explained: ‘All the kids at my kids’ school were saying “Oh hello, Rik, have you read Harry Potter? It’s fantastic!” and I go, “What? What’s that?”.’
‘I said, “Of course I’ve read it”, when I hadn’t. Then my agent says, “You wanna be in Harry Potter?”‘
And before he knew it, he was cast as Peeves.
However, once he arrived on set, Mayall’s naturally funny presence started to cause problems, with many of the children laughing too much while filming.
‘I played the part of Peeves. But I got sent off the set because every time I tried to do a bit of acting all the schoolkids kept getting the giggles.’
‘I did a little bit of filming – then I went home and I got the money. Significant. Then a month later they said they were sorry, they’d cut me out of the film.’
Mayall’s kids thought he’d been cast in the role of Hagrid instead (Picture: AP)
Mayall died in June 2014, three years after the Harry Potter films concluded (Picture: Getty)
He continued: ‘I was in the film for three weeks, then they cut me, but I still got the money. It’s the most exciting film I’ve ever been in – and I wasn’t in it.’
After seeing the finished film with his children, the Young Ones actor revealed that they thought he’d played the role of Hagrid instead of Robbie Coltrane.
In response to the footage that has been re-shared on social media, one Mayall fan wrote: ‘Any person who believes that a film would be enhanced by the non-involvement of dear Rik needs to reassess.’
The footage was recorded while Mayall was filming 2011 horror film Evil Calls: The Raven (in which he also plays a ‘menacing’ ghost, ironically) alongside Jason Donovan.
The video shared online on on the ninth anniversary of his death by actor Michael Warburton, who starred alongside Mayall in 2003 film Chaos and Cadavers.
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