Jason Isaacs Injured One Of The Harry Potter Kids During Filming
Jason Isaacs hurt one of the Harry Potter kids!
This article is more than 2 years old
It seems like just yesterday that the first book of the Harry Potter series was released in the summer of 1997. Now it’s been 24 years and there have been six more books, eight movies, a spin-off trilogy, a play, and so much more. The recent HBO Max special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts saw the cast of the films reunite. In this reunion special, tons of interviews with the cast give fans new insights into the experiences these actors had filming these movies. One of the most interesting is a behind-the-scenes tale told by Lucius Malfoy himself, Jason Isaacs.
According to Jason Isaacs, there was a slight mishap when he was filming a scene with his on-screen son Draco Malfoy played by Tom Felton. Apparently, Isaacs wasn’t aware of how dangerous one of his props was. While filming a scene together, Isaacs accidentally hurt Felton’s hand with his cane.
The scene in question was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. And it’s actually a deleted scene, so the injury didn’t even make it in the theatrical release of the movie. This is only the second film in the series, so the main actors were still fairly young. Tom Felton specifically was only 11. In the scene, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is trying to get to Diagon Alley. He uses Floo Powder, which is a magical substance wizards and witches can use to transport themselves instantaneously. Since Harry is still a young and inexperienced wizard, he’s never used the substance before and he mispronounces his destination, transporting him to an antique store in the seedy Knockturn Alley instead. There he hides and sees Draco and Lucius Malfoy enter.
It’s a short scene, Draco touches something in the shop, and Lucius hits his hand with the cane, telling him not to touch anything. If you’ve seen the movie, the cane actually has a snakehead on it with fangs. Jason Isaacs didn’t know how sharp those fangs were, and when he hit Felton’s hand they went right in. While that certainly doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience, at least it didn’t lead to anything serious. Isaacs then details how he apologized profusely and how professional Felton was, with him replying, “It’s all right, it’s good for the scene.” Definitely impressive for such a young actor.
Despite the tumultuous relationship between these two characters, Tom Felton and Jason Isaacs seem to have nothing but good things to say and mutual respect for one another. Of course, Felton has the caveat that working with Jason “was not always a treat” due to the nature of Isaac’s character and how mean and unfriendly he would become.
Needless to say, the Harry Potter films just wouldn’t have worked without the great actors embodying the characters readers have come to love. It’s safe to say that there was little to no miscasting in any of those movies, and Jason Isaacs and Tom Felton definitely played their parts to perfection. If you want to check out more behind-the-scenes stories and learn more about the Harry Potter filming experience, you can check out Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts now streaming on HBO Max.
