Jason Isaacs states he nearly turned down his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise because he felt he couldn't live up to the menacing presence set by Alan Rickman's Severus Snape. J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World and its central hero Harry Potter have both become literary and cinematic legends, with the seven-book and eight-film franchises two of the most successful of all time. The story has continued with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies and on stage through Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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The film franchise started in 2001 with the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, boasting a large ensemble of characters, magical creatures, and powerful spells all adapted from the books. With such an array of complex and individually developed characters to play with, the franchise drew in some of the best British acting talent on offer at the time, including Maggie Smith as the stern yet mothering Minerva McGonagall and both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon as one of the most iconic mentor figures in film history, Albus Dumbledore. Isaacs joined the series in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, playing Lucius, a Death Eater and the father of Harry's nemesis Draco, in six of the eight Harry Potter films.
Among such an esteemed cast, one may expect a great deal of confidence from the actors inhabiting Rowling's Wizarding characters. Yet, Isaacs states to The Guardian that he almost passed on the opportunity to play the prejudicial Malfoy because he didn't believe he could live up to the sinister performance of Rickman as Snape, which has remained beloved. See what Isaacs had to say below:
Everything that I did as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films was down to Alan. When they offered me a part in the second movie, I nearly turned it down because trying to be sinister in the same film as him seemed pointless. In the end, I came up with a Malfoy designed to avoid doomed comparisons with his effortlessly terrifying Snape: Malfoy had long blond hair, a pinched, high voice and as many props as I could hide behind.
Jason Isaacs' Lucius Malfoy Purposefully Avoided Severus Snape Comparison
Isaacs' comments correctly illuminate just how crucial Rickman's performance was to capturing the essence of Severus Snape, portraying an effortlessly intimidating professor hiding elements of his truer nature. However, Isaacs perhaps does himself a disservice; while his performance may have been shaped around avoiding too many similarities to Snape, the snide and vituperative mannerisms he adopted for his portrayal of the Malfoy family's patriarch made him one of the most hated villains in the series. Regardless of their on-screen differences, Isaacs' admiration for Rickman as a man as well as a performer is also evident, commenting on his colleague's constantly funny and charitable presence on set.
Interestingly, Rickman's star persona raises a key issue concerning debates about Snape's character to this day. While the character from the books is praised for being written with complexity and moral ambiguity, readers have argued that he is almost an entirely different entity from the intimidating yet likable antihero from the films. Without Rickman's stoic charisma and eventual emotional finale, the on-screen legacy of Snape would likely be incredibly different from the one audiences currently cherish. Ultimately, Rickman has become so synonymous with the on-screen vision of Snape that affections for the character are undeniably linked to a universal affection for the actor himself. Clearly, this was an affection, admiration, and even level of intimidation shared by Rickman's colleagues as well, including Isaacs. Luckily, the actor didn't let this stop him from taking on the role of Lucius in Harry Potter, and audiences can continue to enjoy two very different portrayals of Wizarding villainy.