Jason Isaacs: Harry Potter's Lucius Malfoy is probably advising Donald Trump on immigration
The British actor - and soon to be Star Trek Captain - fondly recalls his Malfoy days and wouldn't say no to putting the wig back on
He may have hung up his robes and silver wig in 2011 but Jason Isaacs has his own theory about what his Harry Potter character Lucius Malfoy is most likely up to in 2017.
"I think Lucius and Nigel Farage would be advising Donald Trump on immigration policy" the actor chuckles as he reveals the future he'd write for the man of Malfoy Manor if JK Rowling handed him the pen.
Isaacs, who spent close to a decade in the role of Draco Rowling's Death Eater father, is quite the fan of Rowling's Potter tales, and has often spoken at length about how eager he was to become a part of the story when he arrived on set for Chamber of Secrets.
"I do remember most vividly my first day doing a proper scene because it was with Richard Harris, who was a huge hero of mine" he tells RadioTimes.com beneath the twisted tree roots of soon-to-be opened Forbidden Forest extension at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.
Jason Isaacs comes face-to-face with Aragog the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London
More like this
"It was the last scene from Chamber of Secrets and there were all sorts of magical things that happened."
Isaacs is particularly tickled by an exchange he had with director Christopher Columbus as they prepared to shoot another take of the sequence. Columbus suggested Isaacs shut the door behind him and when the actor made a simply query, he was genuinely enchanted by the director's answer.
“I asked ‘can I just wave my hand and the door shuts by magic?’ and he went ‘yeah, sure’. And I thought ‘this is going to be awesome’”, Isaacs beams.
The actor says "it's a real privilege" to be a part of Rowling's story and the universe she has created, recalling meetings with fans for whom Harry Potter's journey provides real hope and inspiration.
And he agrees that it's a tale with themes that, in the current political climate, have possibly never been more important for the generation that grew up with the Boy Who Lived.
"It is a single powerful story about tolerance and inclusion and at the time she was wriitng it, it must have seemed to some people about the rise of fascism or the Second World War, but clearly it’s so much more universal that even 50 years later. It has so many contemporary applications and that’s why she’s a brilliant story-teller. She takes important themes of life and love and loss, tolerance and politics and how those things are intertwined. And she wrote something that is applicable at all times. But you’re right, never more so than now."
Evanna Lynch, Jason Isaacs, James & Oliver Phelps venture into the Forbidden Forest
Would he ever be tempted to become a part of Rowling's story once again, then, given the opportunity to jump back into Lucius Malfoy's robes?
“I wouldn’t mind. I would love if regularly they’d go ‘it’s that time of year again, throw a wig on and come mince around for a while" he laughs.
"But you know I had a good long run and it was great. What we did, what I love about what we did was it was perfect. It was the books, it was a single story told in eight films, with a beginning, middle and end, and I’m glad that nobody tried to milk it further. They’re too tasteful to do anything like that.”
The Forbidden Forest opens at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter on 31st March 2017. Tickets are pre-book only and available at wbstudiotour.co.uk
