Don’t mistake Jason Isaacs for a prude – if his infamous White Lotus nude scene has taught us anything, it’s that he’s not afraid to bare all on set.
But even he has his limits, which he recently revealed were tested on the set of Harry Potter when he played Lucius Malfoy.
Speaking to Rob Brydon on Rob’s podcast, Brydon &, Jason said that during his first day filming with Richard Harris (who played Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies), he had been distracted by “hair-curling, jaw-dropping, filthy” stories from the actor.
According to Jason, Richard regaled him with “stories about his adventures in the ’60s” on his first day on The Chamber of Secrets.
The retelling took place before their first ever scene together, when Dumbledore shooed Lucius out of a room.
“He remembered every single gynaecological detail of his... swordsmanship,” the actor added.
So, by the time the Harry Potter crew called to pair to set to film, Jason claims, “They go ‘action,’ and they stare at me, and I stare at him. But then the moment went on and on, and I thought, someone should put him out of his misery.”
After a while, he started to panic that either he or Richard had missed their line.
“Maybe I’m distracted by these stories of these starlets in the ’60s,” he thought.
“I started to sweat and panic and twitch, and just at that moment he went, ‘Thank you, Lucius, that’ll be all.’ And I thought, you bastard.”
Jason’s stressed-out state was completely “right for the scene,” he told Rob.
According to Richard Harris himself, he only accepted the role of Dumbledore after being persuaded to by his granddaughter.
“It took me months to say yes to it. I wasn’t necessarily very keen on doing it,” he said.
And speaking to the Toronto Star in 2001, the Irish actor added: “You see, I don’t just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films, and I’m afraid that’s what’s going to happen to me.”
Perhaps that’d explain why his mind may have been less than completely focused on the films...