Terry Gilliam has described working on Harry Potter as a “f**king factory”.

The director was considered for the first film in the series, but was eventually rejected in favor of Chris Columbus, The Sun reports.

However, speaking to Total Film, Gilliam confessed that he now feels relieved that he did not get the job.

“That was one of my lucky moments,” he said. “I would have gone crazy. It’s a f**king factory working on Harry Potter. It is.

“The studios are staking everything on the success of those movies. It was way too expensive. Too much at stake. So they [studio executives] interfere.”

He added that directing is about “serving something higher than yourself”.

“It’s the film,” he said. “The film is God and I’m worshipping it while I’m making it. I become a zealot. Basically, I’m like a suicide bomber when it comes to my films!”