Jason Isaacs has revealed he lied to land a role on one of the biggest shows on TV. The actor, who was born in Liverpool, plays Timothy Ratliff in the latest season of hit HBO show, The White Lotus.
Season three returned to screens last week and the second episode of the anthology season is set to air tonight on HBO Max in America. The show, which is available to watch on NowTV and Sky Atlantic in the UK, is set in Thailand and has once again received glowing reviews with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The praise continues the trend from season one and two, which established the show as a critical darling. However, despite the huge fanfare, Jason confessed he hadn’t got round to watch the show before he was cast in it.
In an interview with People magazine, he confessed he “lied” to creator Mike White and executive producer David Bernad he was an avid viewer. He said: “You’re the first person I’ve ever said this to. I lied to Mike and Dave and told them I was a huge fan.”
Jason explained he was late to watch the show as his wife, Emma Hewitt, and daughters, Lilly and Ruby, jumped ahead and watched the first season without him, Thankfully, the white lie proved to eventually be true as he loved the two seasons when he got round to watching them.
He added: “After the audition, I binged season one and season two. The only reason I hadn’t watched it is my family had started without me. They loved it like crazy, and season two came on and they said, ‘Watch it,’ and I went, ’I want to see season one,’ so I just hadn’t caught up.
“I watched all of them in like a day and a half. “I basically sat and stewed in my own filth, watched it and realised why people had made such a fuss. And then I was a fan, but by then I think I had the job.”
The Harry Potter star admitted he felt “anxious and nervous” about the audition process, adding: “I went to audition and put myself on tape in New York because I was there to launch ‘Archie’, a show in which I play Cary Grant.
“And I walked past all these giant billboards in Times Square of my face on it to go into a casting director’s office like I used to in my 20s and put myself on tape, so I certainly couldn’t get too big for my boots. And I was anxious and nervous. Then I got the job. I obviously didn’t do too appalling of a job.”
Each season of The White Lotus takes place in a luxury hotel complex and follows a series of dysfunctional families whose stories eventually intertwine. The third season was filmed in humid conditions in Thailand and Jason recently quipped the cast all “stunk” at the end of a day’s filming.
The actor, who grew up in Childwall and supports Liverpool FC, told Time magazine: “We’re doing intimate scenes, and you stink. By the end of each day, we’re just caked in sweat and makeup.
“You can peel your clothes off with a trowel. It melts your fillings. It would be churlish to complain — there are terrible things going on in the world — but we’ve all had enough.”
TIME noted many crew members “fell ill” amid record-breaking temperatures, and the set was “littered with ice coolers and sachets of isotonic powder” to help them cool down, while hairdryers were utilised for the cast to dry off their sweat patches.