Rik Mayall was cut from Harry Potter movie

In an interview unearthed following the actor's death, Mayall reveals he was due to play Peeves the poltergeist but was cut from the 'crap' film

The late actor Rik Mayall was cut from the Harry Potter franchise, it has been revealed

Rik Mayall was due to have played Peeves the poltergeist in the Harry Potter movies but was cut from the franchise, it has been revealed.

In a video interview unearthed following the comedian’s death, the actor speaks to camera about having been axed from the “crap” film Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone.

“I did it, I went and f***ing did it. I played the part of Peeves in Harry Potter,” he said, adding he got sent off the set because the extras kept getting the giggles.

His part was later cut from the franchise after he spent three weeks filming, but Mayall didn’t seem to mind as he said he still got paid.

“I went home, and I got the money – significant. Then a month later they said ‘Rik, sorry about this, you’re not in the film.’ But I still got the money,” he said.

“So that was the most exciting film I ever did, because I got the oodle and I wasn’t in it. Fantastic.”

He said he wasn’t unhappy about being cut from the film, adding “with respect…no, with no respect at all…the film was s**t”.

But the late actor said he couldn’t bear to tell his children that he had been cut from the movie.

“They came back and said ‘bloody good makeup Dad’. They thought I was playing Hagrid, Robbie Coltrane’s part, a f***ing big fat guy,” he said.

“So that was the best film I’ve been in, because I wasn’t in it and it was crap. It was crap, because I wasn’t in it.”