Harry Potter is one of the most successful franchises of all time. It started off as a book series written by controversial writer J.K. Rowling and then turned into films that took a majority of its audience through many key moments in their life growing into something much bigger than its author could have ever imagined. The film series was incredibly well thought out featuring an incredible cast and storyline. Having both new actors like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, as well as some of the most respected and seasoned actors in the industry like Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and Michael Gambon.
Taking over a role after the passing of Richard Harris, who played the character in the first two films, Gambon played one of the most wisest and powerful characters in the franchise, Professor Albus Dumbledore. During an interview, the actor once revealed that after Rowling announced a key aspect of this character to the public, he wondered whether his acting had anything to do with this character trait.
Michael Gambon Did Not Realise How Big The Harry Potter Franchise Was
Richard Harris played the role of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, however, this role had to be cast again after the unfortunate and untimely passing of the actor. There were two main actors who were under consideration to play the character in the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Ian McKellen and Michael Gambon. McKellen ended up refusing as Harris wasn’t a big fan of him and he felt that it would not be right for him to take up the late actor’s role and the part went to Gambon.
“They rang me up and said, ‘Will you do it?’ Like any other job I said, ‘Sure,’ Then you find yourself in the middle of this thing.” he went on, “It’s very odd,” Gambon said. “I hadn’t realized before just how powerful these things are. I just do the job and go home and you forget it.”
According to Today, Gambon, however, did not understand the significance of the character he was playing until he actually took on the role. the actor once revealed that he expected projects to be like the ones he had done in the past, that he would do it, and everyone would move on. This wasn’t the case as the actor started to get approached on the street by fans of the franchise who would recognize him making him actually realize the impact of the role he had taken up.
Michael Gambon Thought That His Acting Was The Reason For His Character’s Sexuality
Albus Dumbledore’s sexuality is quite a controversial topic in the Harry Potter fan community. In 2007 J.K. Rowling revealed that he was in fact a gay character. While many fans debate on this subject quite a lot and some aren’t all too fond of this decision made by the author, Michael Gambon was quite glad of this decision.
“’Is it because of the way I’m playing it?’” he’d later ask J.K. Rowling.
According to Today, he did, however, have one question for the author. As this news was announced a few years after Gambon took up the role the actor asked Rowling if her decision to make Dumbledore queer had anything to do with his acting and the way he portrays the character.
Source: Today
