This Harry Potter Actor Accidentally Gave His Character An Australian Accent

If you're a professional actor, you've probably had a few bad auditions in your life — and whether or not you book the part, a bad audition is flat-out embarrassing. For example, Domhnall Gleeson, who's currently starring in the Peacock original series "The Paper," is apparently still haunted by his audition for the "Harry Potter" film franchise, in which he briefly plays Bill Weasley.

During an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (via Entertainment Weekly), Gleeson — who is Irish and also happens to be the son of Brendan Gleeson, a celebrated Irish actor who also showed up in the "Harry Potter" movies as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody — said he went in to audition for Bill prepared to do a traditional British accent, but went in a ... weirdly Southern direction. "My first day on that set, I was meant to be doing an English accent," Gleeson told Meyers. "They'd all been doing it — I was in the seventh and eighth movies, only a small part. And ... I went Australian. And I couldn't stop."

As Gleeson tells it, he picked an Aussie accent, for whatever reason, and ultimately, director David Yates stepped in. "I went Australian on the first take and there was like 300 people on set and the director was there like, 'Cut!' And this weird, long pause," Gleeson continued. "And then the director [Yates] came over and he was like, 'So, you've gone Australian.'" Apparently, Yates was far from the only person who noticed Gleeson's Australian twang. As Gleeson recalled:

"Everyone knows he's gone Australian. And I was like [adopts an Australian accent], 'No, I know.' And he was like, 'Is there anything you can do about it?' 'Not really mate. I think this is what we're doing.'"

"It was shocking," Gleeson concluded. "It was one of the worst days of my life. And then things got a little bit better. And so I hope my American accent [on 'The Paper'] is better, but you tell me!"

Meyers, of course, riffed on the whole situation, saying that when you're auditioning for an adaptation of a very famous book, you can't exactly "have your agent call in and be like, 'Could it be Australian?'" Gleeson was game. "Well, I was also playing one of the Weasley brothers, so he's got bright red hair," Gleeson joked. "If he's Australian, Mrs. Weasley [played by Julie Walters] has been doing some[thing], you know what I mean? Something's been up."

If you sort of forgot about Bill Weasley, I'll forgive you; as the eldest child in the large Weasley family, he's already graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by the time his younger brother, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and his best friends Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) begin their time at the magical academy. (Plus, he only shows up in two of the franchise's movies; he's in the books a little more.) As Ron tells Harry when they first meet in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (or "Philosopher's Stone," if you're abroad), Bill works in an elite position at Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley ... and as a result, he works very closely with goblins, who closely guard the bank and the secrets and treasures hidden within its depths. In "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Bill faces a frightening and nearly fatal setback when he's attacked by a violent werewolf named Fenrir Greyback (Dave Legeno), but he doesn't transform fully; in the book, it's noted that Bill simply develops a taste for rare steak.

Bill's expertise with goblins ultimately becomes a huge plot point in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which gets a two-part film adaptation (hence Domhnall Gleeson's note that he showed up in the "seventh and eighth movies" when there are only seven "Harry Potter" novels). First things first, though. The entire final installment actually kicks off with Bill's wedding to Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy), but after the festivities are interrupted by warnings that Death Eaters sent by the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) are hunting the guests, the event ends abruptly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin their hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes in earnest immediately after, trying to destroy the magical artifacts that contain pieces of Voldemort's soul so that he can finally be defeated. Along the way, they manage to pick up the sword of Godric Gryffindor, which can destroy Horcruxes because, after Harry's adventures in his second year at Hogwarts in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," it's imbued with super-destructive basilisk venom.

This sword, though, is complicated — as Bill explains to the trio. When they realize they need to break into Gringotts to find an artifact that belonged to Hogwarts founder Helga Hufflepuff, they enlist the help of Griphook (Warwick Davis), a goblin who once worked there. Bill reminds them to be cautious, as Gryffindor's sword is goblin-made, and even though Harry swears to give Griphook the sword outright as soon as the hunt for Horcruxes is over, Bill isn't convinced that this is a good deal, knowing that Griphook resents wizards using the sword at all.

Basically, Bill Weasley doesn't have a huge role in the "Harry Potter" saga, but he does have a pivotal one. So, what has Gleeson been doing since?

After playing Bill Weasley in the final two "Harry Potter" movies, the second of which hit theaters in 2011, Domhnall Gleeson kept booking bigger and bigger roles — from the major supporting part of Konstantin Levin in Joe Wright's 2012 adaptation of the classic novel "Anna Karenina" to the romantic lead opposite Rachel McAdams in Richard Curtis' deeply sweet film "About Time." In 2014, Gleeson led "Ex Machina" with Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander, and in 2015, he finally got to play an Irishman again in "Brooklyn," John Crowley's stunning movie that stars Saoirse Ronan as a young woman immigrating from Ireland to the titular New York borough. Oh, he was also in the "Star Wars" franchise (assuming you've heard of it), specifically in the sequel trilogy spearheaded largely by J.J. Abrams, Gleeson plays the evil, slimy General Hux.

As Gleeson mentioned in his interview with Seth Meyers, though, his latest high-profile project requires him to adopt an American accent. The project in question is "The Paper," a Peacock original that is, ostensibly, a spin-off of "The Office," although this freshman comedy series gives viewers a brand new setting and office. Though Oscar Nuñez returns to reprise his role from "The Office" as Oscar Martinez, and the show's creative team includes Greg Daniels, who first adapted the British version of "The Office" for U.S. television, Gleeson gets to play a brand-new character alongside a cast of comedy powerhouses. As Ned Sampson, a deeply idealistic guy who shows up in Ohio to become the new editor-in-chief of an outdated publication called the Toledo Truth Teller, Gleeson is deadpan, funny, and genuinely charming ... and I can confirm that he never randomly affects an Australian accent.

"The Paper" is streaming on Peacock now, while the "Harry Potter" films are currently available to stream on both HBO Max and Peacock.