I was an idiot to reject `Harry Potter`: Baz Luhrmann

London: `The Great Gatsby` helmer Baz Luhrmann had turned down the opportunity to direct the `Harry Potter` films in favour of shooting movie musical `Moulin Rouge`.

The 50-year-old filmmaker said he was contacted by producers of the wizarding franchise while they were planning the first big screen instalment, 2001`s `Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s Stone`, reported Contactmusic. "The first one came along and they rang me, and while I love the pictures and the books now, then I thought, `What`s that?` "And I said, `Well that sounds interesting, but I`m thinking of doing a reinvention of the modern musical,` and that was Moulin Rouge! So I`m an obvious idiot, because I should have taken Harry Potter," he said. PTI