The role that almost ruined Jason Isaacs’ career: “It was a catastrophe for me”
Jason Isaacs is the textbook example of a journeyman actor. Most people know him as Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter franchise, but his filmography is far more dense and interesting than just being Draco’s dad.
From his early appearances on British TV to initial movie roles in Event Horizon and Black Hawk Down to starring in season three of The White Lotus, his career has been nothing but hits. Actually, about that…
Not everything the Liverpudlian has done has turned to gold. He played Taylor Lautner’s father in the thriller Abduction, which basically killed the rising star’s career stone dead. He also lent his voice to Cars 2, Pixar’s worst film, and had a major part in one of Jackie Chan’s biggest misfires, Tuxedo. According to the star himself, however, there is one flop that will haunt him until his dying day.
In 2003, Isaacs played a dual role in a big-screen adaptation of Peter Pan. As well as embodying the Darling’s father, George, he also played the main villain and all-around bad dude, Captain Hook, as is traditional. Jeremy Sumpter plays the titular green-suited boy, while Rachel Hurd-Wood portrays Wendy.
How Peter Pan nearly ended Jason Isaacs’ Hollywood career
“It was a big, expensive production with multiple studios. We filmed for 14 months,” Isaacs explained to Variety. “The film tanked. I think it’s a masterpiece, but people looked at the poster and went, ‘Oh, fuck it. I’ve seen Hook with Robin Williams, and I’ve seen the cartoon. Why do I need to see another one?’ It was a catastrophe professionally for me, a huge fall from grace”.
He added: “I couldn’t get a walk-on role. And I changed my agent, and I almost changed my job, frankly, because I didn’t think I’d work again. The lowest I’ve ever been was after Peter Pan. I was really in despair but not as bad as I would have been had I believed any of the bullshit that had been whispered in my ear. I didn’t over-invest in the results of it.”
Against a budget of $130million, Peter Pan made just $122m of it back. It was up against stiff competition in the form of Cheaper By the Dozen and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but the various production companies involved were still disappointed. This was despite a strong critical response to the film. Both Sumpter and Hurd-Wood were nominated in the ‘Best Performance by a Younger Actor’ at the Saturn Awards, with Sumpter winning, and it still has a strong following to this day.
JM Barrie’s classic work is clearly somewhat cursed when it comes to film adaptations. Stephen Spielberg has talked openly about his difficult relationship with Hook, which is a shame, as it’s one of his most underrated films. Pan, a 2015 version of the story starring Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara, was another box office bomb. That one didn’t even have the good critical reviews to fall back on. It was just bad.
Luckily, Isaacs was able to recover from this momentary career slump. He was still firmly in the throes of Potter-mania, while his work on TV shows like The State Within and Avatar: The Last Airbender also bolstered his standing. However, the fact that he is still troubled by Peter Pan over two decades after its release goes to show just how dark a period of his life it was.
