The Times Magazine 9Actor Jason Isaacs, 58, rose to fame in
Harry Potter, The Patriot and Black
Hawk Down, and stars in Mass. He
is married to documentary-maker
Emma Hewitt, with whom he has two
daughters, Lily, 19, and Ruby, 16.I like dressing up in the jobs that
I never got to do – grown-up jobs
like doctors, policemen, lawyers.
I did a law degree at Bristol
University – they were kind and
let me pass even though they got
a lot of doodles instead of answers
in the exam. They took away the
honours part, though. I often
didn’t attend lectures. I didn’t
want to have a safety net. I was
going to drama school.
We moved from Liverpool to London
when I was 11 and I dropped my
accent overnight. I went full
south London as soon as the first
person took the piss. I reinvented
myself at every turn. From an
early age I always wanted to fit in.
I would consciously adapt the way
I spoke. Whoever I’m with, my
accent changes. When I’m on a
job and I’m American all day, it
seems odd when I go back to my
own voice and speak to my family.
I was once cast in a musical. My
agent said, “They must’ve heard
you sing.” Trust me, they hadn’t.
They probably thought they can
teach anyone to sing, and that is
just not true. I only sing in my
car by myself. It was five years
before I sang in front of my wife
and that was in the car with the
volume turned on full and all
the windows down.
Everyone knows what it’s like to
carry around blame or hatred
or anger for people that you’re
probably not going to meet. It is
like taking poison and expecting
the other person to die. Whether
your anger is at Brexit, vaccines,
Republicans, whatever...
I did drugs for years, although not
for a long time now. I don’t often
go to 12-step meetings any more.
I miss it. I don’t make the effort,
which is my loss. There’s a lot of
fear around at the moment and
it’s challenging just to try to be the
best version of yourself. Do what
you can to change the things you
can change and let go of the rest.What I’ve learnt Jason Isaacs
INTERVIEW Chrissy Iley PORTRAIT Gareth CattermoleThe drugs weren’t a way of dealing
with a sense of distance. They
were the cause. When I got clean,
my wife said, “OK, we can finally
buy a home and have kids.”
I’m embarrassed sometimes that
I get to do a job that brings me
satisfaction.
Awards for Mass would be great
because it means that people can
watch films with people that don’t
wear capes in them. Don’t get
me wrong. I like playing in the
sandbox; I like a cape. I just don’t
want independent films to go away.I am not good at compliments.
They are so alien to me. It is
anathema for me to tape a
scene and think, oh, I was good
in that. Everybody I respect
has impostor syndrome.
My criterion for choosing
something is: can I get away with
this? Will I look like an absolute
turd? If I can’t stand in front of the
camera and make a scene halfway
believable, I don’t want the job.
I like people to think that I’m a
much better actor than I am.
I choose parts, if not projects,where I feel I can hold my end up.
I cry very easily. I cry at Yellow
Pages and HSBC ads, but there
is a difference between crying
and feeling.
During the pandemic I had access
to every single streaming service
and I thought it would be like
going to the film school I never
went to, but my kids only wanted
to watch Grey’s Anatomy (
seasons) twice and The Office. nMass will be released in the UK
on January 21‘I don’t often go to
12-step meetings any
more. I miss it’
‘I don’t often go to
12 -step meetings
any more. I miss it’
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