David Fincher shares his failed Harry Potter adaptation pitch

David Fincher has revealed his failed pitch to secure the right to direct the Harry Potter film series.

The 62-year-old Hollywood director is well known for the gritty - and often violent - films that he has helmed including Seven, Fight Club, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

But at one point, the three-time Best Director Oscar nominee was in the running to take control of the Harry Potter franchise - but it seems his dark ideas led him to miss out on the project.

Opening up to Variety, Fincher revealed, "I was asked to come in and talk to them about how I would do Harry Potter.

"I remember saying, 'I just don't want to do the clean Hollywood version of it. I want to do something that looks a lot more like 'Withnail and I,' and I want it to be kind of creepy.'"

But film bosses were left unconvinced by his pitch, and he recounts, "They were like, 'We want Thom Browne schooldays by way of 'Oliver'.'"

The first two Harry Potter films, released in 2001 and 2002, were helmed by Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire director Chris Columbus while Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón took control for the third instalment in 2004.

The fourth film in the series was directed by Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell, while David Yates, who made the gritty BBC drama State of Play, oversaw the final four films in the series.