Jason Isaacs has opened up about one of his worst on-set experiences working with a “global icon,” whom he remembered as being “the worst bully ever.”
The prolific film and stage actor, 62, previously shared the memory in a 2020 Backstage interview, revealing that an unnamed “famous, late, knighted actor literally physically shoved me out of the shot with his elbows.” Isaacs first mentioned the incident in a 2011 interview with The Telegraph.
Asked about the interaction in a new interview with Vulture, Isaacs said: “Oh Jesus. Did worse than that. Was the worst bully ever and a global icon. Did all the old tricks of doing a completely different performance off-camera than on. Yeah, it sucked. I’d never seen anything like it.”
He admitted that before working together on the project, he greatly admired the actor and would have “licked the ground that this person walked on.”
“Mostly, what I judge on set is bad behavior,” Isaacs said, listing off “selfishness, cruelty, bullying, or people complaining to the person who’s getting them dressed, who doesn’t get in a year what they earn in a day to pick their filthy underwear off the floor.”
“That, or not turning up, or going home early, or thinking they know better than the director, or being on crack and calling prostitutes to their trailer. I come across all that stuff,” The White Lotus actor added.
Refusing to give any names, the actor explained there “is no value, other than masochism and sabotage, in telling people the truth about people I’ve worked with or experiences I’ve had.”
“I have stories. I know where all the bodies are buried. I often fantasize about doing a junket and telling the truth, and when I win the lottery, possibly that will be the case,” he teased. “Acting is all about secrets.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Harry Potter star confirmed that he and his The White Lotus co-stars all received the same “very low price” of $40,000 per episode, no matter their star power or experience.
“Generally actors don’t talk about pay in public because it’s ridiculously disproportionate to what we do — putting on makeup and funny voices — and just upsets the public,” Isaacs said.
“But compared to what people normally get paid for big television shows, that’s a very low price,” he said, insisting that the entire cast “would have paid to be in it. We probably would have given a body part.”
