понедельник, 03 ноября 2008
interview
Jason Isaacs has learned that playing a villain in the “Harry Potter" movies and a career criminal on a TV series can lead to some strange encounters with fans.
The Liverpool native, who is best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Potter films, plays crime boss Michael Caffee in Showtime’s “Brotherhood,” which returns for a third season tonight at 8 p.m.
“Brotherhood” films on location in Providence, where Isaacs is constantly recognized. Strangers tell him their wives work at the hospital where the show filmed or that their uncles catered the set. And then there are the other fans.
“Criminals come up to me all the time,” Isaacs said. “Or someone will say, ‘There’s someone in the back I’d like you to meet.’ And I’ll say, ‘Have him come out.’ And they’ll say, ‘He can’t come out. He can’t be seen in public.’ ”
He gets a different sort of reaction for the “Potter” films.
“Grownups force their children on me,” Isaacs said and then laughed. “They’ll tell their children that I play Lucius Malfoy, and the children say, ‘No, you don’t.’ And then the adult goes, ‘Do the voice, do the voice!’ So I do the voice and the child says, ‘That’s not what he sounds like!’ And then I want the earth to swallow me up.”
Isaacs enjoys spending time in the world of muggles and wizards. “Michael Caffee is a very, very tortured man. Some of that rubs off on you. On the set of ‘Harry Potter,’ I relish the opportunity to chew the scenery up and be as big of a ham as I can imagine. And I look around the set and I’m surrounded by my heroes, and it’s like we’re all dressed up for a fantastic Halloween party.”
Since “Brotherhood” began, Michael has survived a murder attempt and suffered a traumatic brain injury that resulted in memory loss. Isaacs had no idea his character was headed in this direction when he accepted the role.
“But that’s what an actor longs for and trains for,” he said. “The thing you never want to do is play the same character for years and years. ‘Brotherhood’ has provided this dream opportunity.”
And what’s ahead for the new season? “If everything that has happened to Michael sounds too jolly for you, things go downhill from here. We’re charting this man’s gradual disintegration. He’s not managing his brain injury very well and paranoia gets the better of him.”
Isaacs will next be seen on the big screen as a special forces major in the Iraq War opposite Matt Damon in “Green Zone” and as Viggo Mortensen’s best friend in 1930s Germany in “Good.”
To what does he attribute the versatility of his roles?
“I’ve not established myself as someone who plays the same part again and again,” he said. “You can’t be typecast, you can be type offered.”
@темы:
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