'Stranger Things' star Jamie Campbell Bower says he ruined his chance to play Harry Potter by sharing NSFW joke during 'Sorcerer's Stone' audition

• Jamie Campbell Bower said that he told a dirty joke for a "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" audition.
• Bower said that there was an "air of silence" after he told the joke, and he knew he had botched it.
• Bower was eventually cast in the franchise as young Grindelwald. 

Jamie Campbell Bower said that he messed up his audition for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by telling a dirty joke about a fairy. 

The "Stranger Things" star appeared on Josh Horowitz's "Happy Sad Confused" podcast on September 2, and spoke about his previous acting projects, as well as the blockbuster Netflix series.

He also told a story about bombing a "Harry Potter" audition as a teenager. Bower recalled that he was asked to prepare a joke for a meeting with Chris Columbus prior to the first film in the franchise. 

"I had just heard this joke about a fairy, like, the reason why the fairy sits on top of the Christmas tree. And it's a really, like, dirty joke, because it's about the Christmas tree up somebody's bottom," Bower said. "And I told this joke in the audition, and there was again, this sort of air of silence after I said it. And I was like, 'Well, fucked that up."

Bower told Horowitz that he was up for the titular role of Harry Potter, which eventually went to Daniel Radcliffe. While he didn't land the part, he eventually joined the franchise to play young Grindelwald in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," a role that he reprised in "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."

According to Bower, his London agent Simon Beresford (who also represents Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes) put him up for the role when the production began to ask around. 

"Simon said, 'Well Jamie's now, you know, properly working, and is not telling too many rude jokes anymore,'" Bower joked on the podcast.