James McAvoy has admitted that he is glad he didn't get the role of Will Turner in The Pirates of the Caribbean.
The actor was in the running for the part that eventually went to Orlando Bloom and he auditioned with Keira Knightley, who landed the role of Elizabeth Swan.
Speaking to the Radio Times the actor said: "The producers saw me, Adam Rickitt and Paul Nicholls. We were all in the waiting room for the auditions with Keira, and I think I got relatively close to the part."
And despite missing out on the movie, which went on to be a hugely successful franchise, McAvoy says that he is not sorry.
"By the nature of the fact that you're in something that cost hundreds of millions. You're just a target. Keira nearly got crippled by the fact that she was suddenly an international movie star."
"She wasn't nearly crippled, but people's opinions of her were really, really harsh.
"She was in a film that, acting-wise, wasn't that demanding, and she got labelled a terrible actor. That could have been the end for her."
McAvoy did eventually get to share the screen with Knightley as they starred together in Joe Wright's adaptation of Atonement.
2011 has been a busy year for the actor having already starred in Gnomeo and Juliet, The Conspirator and X-Men: First Class.
And he will be lending his voice to another animation later this month as festive film Arthur Christmas hits the big screen.
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