When the makers of the Harry Potter film series were casting, they opted for the school-casting process.
This traditional method has the filmmakers go from school to school to find suitable talent.
Yet actor Jack Whitehall got a lucky break and bypassed the system with a private audition with the casting directors.
This happened because his father, Michael Whitehall, is a talent agent and producer, and the star jokingly called him “nepo dad.”
Back to the story, Whitehall appeared on Capital Breakfast, where he recalled, “They sent one of the casting directors to the school to audition a load of the kids there, and my dad, obviously being in the industry, was like, ‘That is a complete waste of time; no one has ever been cast from an open audition.'”
“I will get you one-on-one time with the casting director,” the actor remembered.
However, Whitehall said he blew it because he hadn’t read the Harry Potter books yet.
The Jungle Cruise actor recounted he made it worse by attempting to play smart.
“Unfortunately, I hadn’t read the book, so I went to this audition, and they started asking me loads of questions about the book and Harry Potter. I was trying to wing it and started talking about Orks and stuff.”
The casting team heard about it, and Whitehall remembered their response clearly.
“They were like, ‘that’s the wrong book, mate,’ and absolutely tanked the audition.”
But most importantly, the role Whitehall auditioned for was none other than Harry Potter itself, which eventually went to Daniel Radcliffe.
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