‘My film flopped and Hollywood didn’t want to touch me’

Despite show-stealing turns in the Harry Potter films, Jason Isaacs found himself rejected by the film industry. He tells Emine Saner how winning a role in the gritty US drama Brotherhood salvaged his career.

Jason Isaacs has the kind of face that is hard to remember, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s not that he’s average-looking – he’s not (it’s those glinty pale blue eyes) – but somehow he manages to disappear into each role he plays. I don’t think he was too offended when I told him I had never heard of him (I know, I’m charming). What I remember instead are his characters. One of the most extraordinary, in 2006, was Chris in Scars, a low-budget one-off Channel 4 film in which Isaacs played a real-life violent offender. Or the villainous British colonel in The Patriot. Or the deliciously camp Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. Or the ethically challenged British ambassador in the BBC drama The State Within, for which he has been nominated for a Golden Globe. The event has now been cancelled because of the ongoing writers’ strike, but like many of the stars, Isaacs says he wouldn’t have crossed the picket line.  Continue Reading…