Harry Potter Reunion: Jason Isaacs recalls stabbing young Tom Felton’s hand with his cane, how his eyes welled up

HBO released the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special on New Years Day on Saturday. Cast members, directors and producers all came together for the special reunion episode and revisited important scenes and the great time they had making the movie.

The special, which is available in India on Amazon Prime Video, also shows the relationship that younger actors shared working with some of Britain’s acting giants such as Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman and others. Actor Jason Isaacs, who played the conniving and evil Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, also revealed why he joined the movie and the affection he had for his onscreen son, Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy.

Jason, who has also starred in movies such as Black Hawk Down and Peter Pan, revealed that he had initially hoped to play Gilderoy Lockhart, a role which later went to Kenneth Branagh. He was instead asked to try for Lucius and turns out he was just the right fit. 

“I adored Tom from the second I met him. He was just a real sweetheart,” he said. Tom spoke about working with Jason, calling it a real treat. However, he went back on his words upon remembering what really happened. “Working with Jason wasn’t always a treat. Just immediately turned into the most unfriendly, horrible person I’ve ever met.”

Jason, too, said that he would grab Tom and be as ‘unpleasant as I possibly could’. He said he would watch Tom’s face as he would constantly seek his approval, a mirror image of Draco’s relationship with his father.

He said that the first scene he shot for the movie was cut out of the movie. It showed him and Tom in the Knockturn Alley, looking through a shop. As Tom touched things around, Lucius slams his cane on Tom’s hand. “But I didn’t know how sharp the teeth were and they went right into little Tom’s hand. And he looked up at me with his eyes welled with tears. And I went, ‘Tom I am so sorry, I didn’t realise how sharp they were and how heavy it was’ and he said, ‘No, no. It’s alright. It’s good for the scene’,” Jason said.

Also read: Harry Potter reunion: Emma Watson says it was ‘horrifying’ to kiss Rupert Grint, he reveals he ‘kind of blacked out’

Tom, however, mentioned that after the director said ‘cut’, Jason would come up to him with cuddle and ask him if he hit him too hard. “He’s a real Jekyll and Hyde that one.”

Later in the episode, Jason also mentions how Draco’s journey was more important than Harry’s as he had to constantly fight the demons of good and evil inside him. Whereas, Harry always knew the right thing to do.

The Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone released in 2001. It was followed by seven other films based on JK Rowling’s hit fantasy novels.