Jason Isaacs defends 'Harry Potter' TV reboot amid casting backlash: 'It's going to be fantastic'
Jason Isaacs is not shy when it comes to giving his unfiltered thoughts on a topic. The 61-year-old British actor, who played villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, said fans are in good hands with the forthcoming television adaptation that seems to have divided the internet.
"I have nothing interesting to say about it because it's going to be fantastic," he told Yahoo Entertainment while promoting his new film Words of War. "They've got an amazing cast already."
John Lithgow is among the actors who faced criticism after it was announced he would portray Dumbledore. Isaacs knows Janet McTeer, set to play Professor McGonagall and Paapa Essiedu, who will take on the role of Professor Snape. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, an executive producer on the series, has said she supports diversity in the show's casting, as it will be the first time a Black actor portrays Snape.
Isaacs praised the casting thus far.
"It's a bunch of great actors. The books are still beloved decades later by anyone who reads them, adults and children. They're going to make each season be a book. It's going to be weird for those of us who are from the old cast, but such is life," Isaacs said. "Things move on. I'm still working, amazingly, so it's fine!"
The White Lotus star isn't just working; he's booked and busy.
Isaacs can be seen next in the political thriller Words of War. The drama is based on the true story of Russian-American journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was assassinated in 2006 after covering the atrocities of the Second Chechen War.
Isaacs, who plays Politkovskaya's husband in the film, said he was drawn to the project because it wasn't simply a documentary or PSA about the dangers journalists face.
"If it was just, 'Did you know this about the Chechnya War and how much Putin lied to the people? It's the same playbook as Ukraine, and there was this campaigning journalist,' then I would have read Wikipedia and moved on," Isaacs explained. "But it felt like a three-dimensional picture of a woman — her marriage, her responsibilities and her fears and her passion. It's an inspiring story of somebody standing up and — that horrible clichéd phrase — speaking the truth to power."
Isaacs emphasized how Politkovskaya's story is timely in today's political climate.
"People are self-censoring, and we, more and more people, even don't believe journalists in the world who are doing their job responsibly and brilliantly,' he said. 'So it felt like [this story]'s in the zeitgeist, although it's a period piece. It's actually about now."
is in theaters on May 2.
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