What happened to the boy who almost became Harry Potter?

Better than any mortal, the author himself tells it in the pages of his book: "In 1999 the casting started to find the boy who would play

and who would therefore become world famous. Hundreds of actors went through the auditions. In the end, there were only two left. This novel tells the story of the one who was discarded."

On one side, the chosen one: the boy

, who would become a planetary celebrity and whose face would even appear in the soup.

On the other hand, the one who had it within reach of the fingers but did not succeed: a certain

(fictitious name), who due to the setback in the selection process chains depressions and is obsessed with what could have been and will never be .

"On opening day on November 16, only

was being talked about ," the author continues.

"Then the real horror began for Martin: from that moment it would be impossible for him to ignore what he had let slip. Impossible to avail himself of the famous right to oblivion that is alluded to for criminals. Even worse, it seemed that the entire country was fanning the embers of his failure."

The novel is titled

and is signed by

(Paris, 1974).

The real starting point serves the writer to make fiction about the life of that loser.

A sensational story that tells us about the dark reverse of success, of chance, of broken dreams and, above all (why not) of love.

Martin Hill has to learn to live with failure.

How many times have you felt closer to Martil Hill (the one who didn't win) than Daniel Radcliffe (the one who got the part)? Many times.

I have known both extremes.

For years, my books didn't do too well.

I have been number two many times.

They gave me pumpkins many times.

But I strongly believe in the value of failure.

So you can say that I'm glad I didn't succeed right away. Is failure less if others don't know about it? Sometimes what's painful is the look of others.

Pete Best was the drummer for the Beatles.

Just before he succeeds, he is kicked out.

Everyone remembered him as the drummer for the Beatles... The main point of the book is that success or failure is linked to comparison, to the lives of others.

And in our time,

With social networks, we have never been so subjected to the gaze of others.

We live permanently under the dictatorship of the happiness of others. Behind all the unhappiness, is envy usually there? It's bad enough when things go wrong for you, but it's worse when things go well for others.

But I insist on the value of failure.

This is what Churchill said, that success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

Envy is an extraordinary theme: you always have the impression that others steal your life.

In a professional or love failure, there is always someone in your place.

There is always someone who comes to overtake you and touch your nose. What kind of society have we created if it is only good to be number one and no one prepares you to be number two? This book praises the number two, it says that it is not serious to fail ,

that happiness is not in success.

Personal development does not happen to be number one.

When the book came out in France, many people told me about their lives as number two, they told me about everything they had failed, and many were very happy.

Someone told me: "Luckily I'm number two and that way I have fewer worries."

So long live the numbers two!

This book is the revenge of numbers two. What happens to the protagonist, would it have been worse today with the loudspeaker of social networks? But the marketing of those films was colossal.

It is something tragicomic and very painful what the protagonist lives.

He has a peculiarity: he has a permanent vision of his fault.

We all fail in many things, but we are not permanently confronted with our failure.

movies,promotion,books,

everything reminded him of his failure.

Imagine any failure, that something in which you have failed miserably had the ability to replicate Harry Potter.

As if a woman doesn't love you and you see her all the time with someone else on billboards, on TV, in advertising... It's unbearable She writes: "When we suffer, we reveal our true character."

What did you discover during your serious illness? In my case, it was an encounter with death.

It was something that propelled me towards beauty.

There were no books in my house.

I went to the essential.

I started reading, writing, making music.

Suffering triggered sensitivity in me.

In the face of suffering, we see nature revealed.

Combative or fatalistic.

Only in those moments can we take the pulse of our character.

And it is often surprising.

There are people who seem very safe and sink and another whose capacity for resistance and combat we did not imagine.

What we have in the deepest part of ourselves is revealed there. I have read that once he presented a book to which only one person attended... Well, I have known failure.

Sentimental, literary... Once I had a meeting in a bookstore and there was only one woman.

She said to me, "I don't know who you are at all."

The lady had forgotten her house keys and, since she had nothing to do, she was waiting for her husband in the bookstore.

Two or three years later I started to have success and at a meeting in an opera house there were 1,200 people.

I began by dedicating the evening to that woman I didn't know and who had lost her keys.What is success?Being in tune with oneself.

True happiness begins when one frees oneself from the judgment of others. The closer you are to success, the bigger the wound? Without a doubt.

My character was almost Harry Potter.

The closer to the goal one fails, the harder the fall.

If you run a marathon and finish two hours after the first one, it's not serious.

But if you finish two seconds after the one who wins...Is it smart to be happy?

I ask because when we see someone smiling, we don't say, "There goes a happy man."

But: "There goes an idiot." It is one of the themes of

But if you finish two seconds after the one who wins...Is it smart to be happy?

I ask because when we see someone smiling, we don't say, "There goes a happy man."

But: "There goes an idiot." It is one of the themes of

But if you finish two seconds after the one who wins...Is it smart to be happy?

I ask because when we see someone smiling, we don't say, "There goes a happy man."

But: "There goes an idiot." It is one of the themes of

.

The character is benevolent, kind.

And when you're nice, you look like an asshole.

Sometimes, I could do interviews by being aloof, suspicious, rude, and then I would come off as deeper and more intelligent.

But you have to stand up to the other.

Kindness breeds kindness. The young protagonist has depression, poor mental health... Suicide attempts among adolescents have soared in Spain.

Anything to say? I'm currently working on this topic.

The future is very anxious for the new generations.

The pandemic has increased this discomfort, social networks close us in on ourselves and the prospects for the future are complicated. I wanted to know if Daniel Radcliffe or Martin Hill have read the book or are aware of it... Daniel is aware, he spoke of the book into a video

And my big dream is to end up finding the boy who came second in that casting.

In fact, it would be great if he had a role in the movie that is going to be made with the novel.

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