Ralph Fiennes "stupidly" planned to reject the role of Voldemort in the 'Harry Potter' series.

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes

The 56-year-old actor admitted he was "ignorant" about J. K. Rowling's wizarding franchise when he was first offered the role of the Dark Lord in second movie 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' in 2005 and it took the intervention of his sister to make him think again and sign up for the franchise.

Speaking on 'The Jonathan Ross Show', he said: "The truth is I was actually ignorant about the films and the books.

"I was approached by the production. Mike Newell was directing the film that they wanted me to be in... the first time Voldemort was going to appear physically.

"Out of ignorance I just sort of thought, this isn't for me... Quite stupidly I resisted, I was hesitant. I think the clincher was that my sister Martha - who has three children who were then probably about 12, 10 and 8 - she said, 'What do you mean? You've got to do it!' So then I rewound my thinking."

But one iconic role Ralph didn't land was James Bond - much to his relief as he thinks he'd have been "terrible".

The British star - who joined the franchise in 2012 as Secret Intelligence Service boss M - said: "We did have a conversation, I had a conversation with Barbara Broccoli [Bond producer] many years ago.

"I did have the privilege of meeting Cubby Broccoli, who started the whole Bond franchise. I don't think I would have been very good."

And the actor thinks current Bond Daniel Craig has done a "fantastic" job.

He said: "I think that Daniel is a fantastic Bond.

"He has a really strong weight and sense of threat and danger and he has a really interesting complex interior life. I think he's brilliant. And I also think Sean Connery is hard to forget.

'The Jonathan Ross Show' airs on March 16 on ITV at 9.30pm.

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