Jason Isaacs Reflects on Playing ‘Racist’ Lucius Malfoy In Harry Potter

Jason Isaacs recently opened up about playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise, a character Isaacs describes as having to be explicitly mean to provide a strong story.

What did Jason Isaacs say about his role as Lucius Malfoy?

In a recent interview during an appearance on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Isaacs noted that his job in the movies was never to just exist, but show why a character like Draco Malfoy (played by Tom Felton), his character’s son, was such an antagonist.

“My job wasn’t being in a franchise. My job was trying to explain to the audience why Draco was such a little s— at school,” Isaacs said (via EW). The actor also opened up about Lucius, calling the character “racist” and “somebody trying to make Hogwarts great again.”

“He came from a loveless home, and I came from a long, unbroken chain of loveless parenting,” said Isaacs. “And to play that popinjay and that racist, it might be magical, but the parallels are pretty transparent: someone who doesn’t think that Muggles should mix blood with wizards, and somebody trying to make Hogwarts great again.”

Isaacs also said he always takes issue with the term “franchise.” Although the movies do comprise a franchise, Isaacs doesn’t like the negative connotation it carries, and says he’s always taken the acting “incredibly seriously.”

“When [Ralph Fiennes] was around bullying me as Voldemort, humiliating me, and snapping my wand at my table, [it] felt like being castrated in front of my family,” Isaacs said. “It was heartbreaking and humiliating. I don’t know how to phone a performance in, really. That felt like serious acting. It didn’t feel like we were in something silly.”

Isaacs starred as Lucius Malfoy in six of the eight Harry Potter films. Recently, he also starred in HBO‘s The White Lotus, for its third season.