Jason Isaacs recalls the Lucius Malfoy stunt in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
that knocked him out. Directed by Chris Columbus, the second installment in the Harry Potter franchise 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 a Harry Potter cast member, and his character serves as a chilling secondary antagonist in the story.
In a recent interview with Collider, Isaacs reveals that he was knocked unconscious during a stunt in which Dobby the house-elf uses magic to knock Lucius backwards in Harry 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 with incredible violence and knocked myself out.”
What This Means For Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets
Lucius’ Dobby & Harry Confrontation Explained
Chamber of Secrets is 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 the Harry Potter movies, but he does serve as an antagonist throughout the saga, with it eventually being revealed that he serves Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) as a Death Eater. Chamber of Secrets sets up this eventual reveal, with the Dobby encounter at the end of the movie establishing just how violent he can be.
In addition to physically abusing Dobby throughout the film, the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ending features 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, as Lucius 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 the Harry Potter franchise. Though Lucius does get some action scenes in later movies, it seems that after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Isaacs was content to let stunt performers do the heavy lifting.
Source: Collider
