Jason Isaacs discusses the evolution of Lucius Malfoy in new interview

by · May 12, 2015

Jason Isaacs recently gave an interview where he discussed upcoming projects, fandom, and – most importantly – what it’s like to play Lucius Malfoy.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Isaacs just finished a run on DIG, a USA Network miniseries on which he plays FBI agent Peter Connelly. The last episode aired May 7, but Isaacs has a lot of good reasons why it’s worth catching up with the show:

Even though I knew what the overall story was, they continued surprising me. Mostly by killing the people I liked hanging out with, but the characters are not what they seem, and situations are not what they seem, and things don’t take the turn of events that you would imagine they would.

But as wonderful as Jason Isaacs is in all his roles, we love him best as Lucius Malfoy, and Isaacs had some very interesting things to say about the development of his character.

I think that I did have an opportunity that many of my colleagues and friends didn’t have in it, that Lucius changed so much. When you first met him, he was supremely confident and arrogant; by the time we finished the show, he was completely emasculated, if not castrated, with his wand being snapped. And clearly Voldemort was going to have no place for him in the evil order, his wife and kids had no place for him; he was absolutely paying the price for the kind of racism and egomania he had been displaying, and that stuff is meat and potatoes for an actor. It was a real joy.

Isaacs also commented on that rabid fandom Potterheads are so well known for:

It’s a strange and interesting phenomenon [that] seems to have exploded; there are ComicCons and wizarding festivals all over the world, and frankly, it’s nice to meet the fans. I’ve never met anybody [who] doesn’t get excited about… or rather, I’ve never had a bad experience with a Harry Potter fan. People just love it, and they love to meet people from it. Normally the pleasure I get from work is from doing the work, and what happens afterwards is nothing to do with me but with Harry Potter; it’s the gift that keeps on giving. It’s nice to see how excited and what pleasure people get just by seeing an idiot like me walking into the room, and it makes you feel good to give other people a thrill.

You can read the full interview here for more information on Jason’s upcoming project London Fields, his thoughts on typecasting, and more.

Jessica J.

I've been making magic at MuggleNet since 2012, when I first joined the staff as a News intern. I've never wavered from the declaration in my childhood journal, circa October 2000: "I LOVE Harry Potter! If I clean my room, my mom says she'll make me a dinner a wizard would love!" Proud Gryffindor; don't hate.