Why Robin Williams was rejected from playing Hagrid in Harry Potter

You wouldn't expect the talented Robin Williams to be ever denied an acting role, but it has now been revealed that he lost out a role in the popular Harry Potter movie franchise. 

Casting director Janet Hirshenson divulged in a recent interview that Robin Williams was actually turned down for the role of Rubeus Hagrid.

The 63-year-old comedian, who died in 2014, called director Chris Columbus about the part of the loveable Hogwarts groundskeeper, but was rejected on account of his nationality.

"He really wanted to be in the movie, but it was a British-only edict," Hirshenson said. "And once [Columbus] said no to Robin, he wasn't going to say yes to anybody else, that's for sure. It couldn't be."

Robbie Coltrane was eventually cast as Hagrid in the film franchise. The 66-year-old actor was reportedly J.K. Rowling's first choice to play the half-giant character and went on to appear in all eight movie adaptations of her books.

Robin had previously spoken about his Harry Potter ambitions, telling the New York Post in 2001: "There were a couple of parts I would have wanted to play, but there was a ban on [using] American actors ..."