Jason Isaacs recalls the Lucius Malfoy stunt inHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secretsthat knocked him out. Directed by Chris Columbus, the second installment in theHarry Potterfranchise follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they attempt to save their fellow students after a monster is unleashed inside Hogwarts. The film marks Isaacs' debut as aHarry Pottercastmember, and his character serves as a chilling secondary antagonist in the story.
In a recent interview withCollider, Isaacs reveals thathe was knocked unconscious during a stunt in which Dobby the house-elf uses magic to knock Lucius backwardsinHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The scene comes towards the end of the film after Harry tricks Lucius into freeing Dobby from his servitude, prompting a furious reaction from the Malfoy family patriarch.
Though a stunt performer did the part in which Lucius flies backwards through the air, Isaacs himself did the final part of the impact, and he did it with such force that he sustained a head injury. Now, at 61 years old, Isaacs says he’s happy to let his stunt double “open a door handle from now on.” Check out Isaacs' recollection of the moment below:
“They built a bit of rubber cobblestones. All I had to do was the last 3 or 4 inches. And I was so frustrated at not doing the pull that when I did that last 3 or 4 inches, I did it withincredible violenceand knocked myself out.”
What This Means For Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets
Lucius' Dobby & Harry Confrontation Explained
Chamber of Secretsis the first time audiences meet Lucius, the wealthy, arrogant, and cruel father to Draco (Tom Felton). Lucius is never a primary villain in any of theHarry Pottermovies, but he does serve as an antagonist throughout the saga, with it eventually being revealed thathe serves Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) as a Death Eater.Chamber of Secretssets up this eventual reveal, with the Dobby encounter at the end of the movie establishing just how violent he can be.
Was Lucius Malfoy Going To Kill Harry Potter In Chamber Of Secrets?! This Book-To-Movie Change Makes No Sense
Lucius Malfoy made a very questionable move at the end of Chamber of Secrets when he tried to kill Harry Potter, but this doesn’t happen in the book.
In addition to physically abusing Dobby throughout the film, theHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secretsendingfeatures Lucius seemingly about to kill Harry, uttering the beginning of the Avada Kedavra Killing Curse. Dobby interrupts this curse, blasting him backwards, but it establishes Lucius' hatred of Harry and the ease with which he wields Unforgivable Curses. In fact, this scene has become somewhat controversial, asLucius doesn’t attempt to utter the Killing Curse in J. K. Rowling’s novel, and it is argued that it doesn’t make sense for him to risk life imprisonment in Azkaban over a house-elf.
It has been rumored that Isaacs improvised the Avada Kedavra line, as the script doesn’t include this particular Unforgivable Curse.
Our Take On Jason Isaacs' Chamber Of Secrets Stunt
Isaacs' Story Shows How Important Stunt Performers Are
Killing Curse controversy aside, Isaacs story speaks to the importance of stunt performers in the movie-making process. Even though the scene sounds simple on paper,there’s evidently always a level of danger involved in any stunt, especially those involving the head. Thankfully, Isaacs didn’t suffer any lasting damage, and he continued to shine as a supporting character in the rest of theHarry Potterfranchise. Though Lucius does get some action scenes in later movies, it seems that afterHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Isaacs was content to let stunt performers do the heavy lifting.
