Harry Potter: initially, Jason Isaacs didn’t want to play Lucius Malfoy

The British actor had auditioned for the role of Gilderoy Lockhart.

Jason Isaacs revealed to Digital Spy in 2017 that he almost refused the role of Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter. The actor had auditioned for the second opus of the saga, The Chamber of Secrets (back at 9:10 p.m. on TF1) but not for the role of Lucius Malfoy, Draco’s evil father. No, he hoped to play Gilderoy Lockhart, ultimately played by Kenneth Branagh, and when he found out that Warner Bros. thought of him to play one of the villains of the saga, he initially wanted to tell them no.

The Harry Potter saga film by film: 2. The Chamber of Secrets

“I didn’t audition for Lucius, but for Gilderoy Lockhart, then recognized the British actor. I was pretty upset when they asked me to audition for the other role. I was about to play Captain Hook (In Peter Pan2003, editor’s note) and I didn’t want to play two villain roles in children’s films. So I told my agent: ‘When they call, tell them no thanks, explain to them that I’m going to play Captain Hook’. He advised me to think about it over the weekend. I replied that I didn’t want to think about it, that I was flattered, but that it bothered me this story of similar roles in children’s films. In the end, during the weekend, my whole family called me. My nieces, my nephews, my godchildren, and even my parents! They were all trying to persuade me to accept this role. Not only because they cared about me, but also because they dreamed of coming to visit the set! I ended up accepting. Thank God I accepted!”

Jason Isaacs eventually played Lucius Malfoy in all subsequent episodes, until the Deathly Hallows, in 2011. Learning that Rowling wrote the spin-offs Fantastic Beasts, he made it known that he would immediately agree to participate in the adventure again if she asked him to come back. But the action of this prequel takes place well before that of Harry Potter, and this type of comeback could not be arranged.

Ironically, the hero of this new saga (ultimately looped in three partsand not five as initially announced) is played by Eddie Redmaynewho had also auditioned for Harry Potter 2. Before signing to play Newt Scamander/Norbert Scamander, he hoped at the time to play Tom Riddle, aka Lors Voldemort.

Eddie Redmayne: “I auditioned for the role of Voldemort”

Trailer for The Chamber of Secrets :

Harry Potter 2: “I have a little regret: we had to cut the scene of Almost Headless Nick’s birthday”