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Original poster

Jason Isaacs - is he starting to get it?

50 replies

Awkwardy · 21/01/2022 08:21

“There’s a bunch of stuff about Jo,” he muses. “You know, I play complicated people, I’m interested in complicated people. I don't want to get drawn into the trans issues, talking about them, because it's such an extraordinary minefield.

“She has her opinions, I have mine. They differ in many different areas. But one of the things that people should know about her too – not as a counter-argument – is that she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place, for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children, through her charity Lumos. And that is unequivocally good. Many of us Harry Potter actors have worked for it, and seen on the ground the work that they do.

“So for all that she has said some very controversial things, I was not going to be jumping to stab her in the front – or back – without a conversation with her, which I've not managed to have yet.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/jason-isaacs-interview-seeing-world-3-ft-perspex-wall/

OP posts:
Rightsraptor · 21/01/2022 08:25

I'm still waiting to hear anything controversial she's said, never mind very controversial.

Original poster
Awkwardy · 21/01/2022 08:27

I read this as "my fellow HP actors were quick to assume that things she has said are definitely controversial, and attack her. I would rather talk to her directly."

OP posts:
Fiftysix · 21/01/2022 08:41

No, i don't think hes getting it, unfortunately. he is obviously self serving .
,she's "complicated" "she has said some very controversial things", he is too old not to see the truth of what she says.
i judge him even more poorly than the younger actors.

MiladyBerserko · 21/01/2022 08:43

His arse must be killing him with all the splinters.

He is rather delicious though.

Flingingmelon · 21/01/2022 08:48

Friend knows him quite well. Not at all convinced he's getting it from what I've heard generally. This sounds like he can be an adult about having a difference of opinion however, which is a start.

Still trying to angle a meeting through friend - she's not budging Grin

PaleGreenGhost · 21/01/2022 09:17

I'd say he totally doesn't get it but is behaving more like a reasonable human being. Full adherence to trans ideology would demand that he not behave like this. Not denouncing JKR would mark him as a terf regardless so he can't really win.

terryleather · 21/01/2022 09:31

@PaleGreenGhost

I'd say he totally doesn't get it but is behaving more like a reasonable human being. Full adherence to trans ideology would demand that he not behave like this. Not denouncing JKR would mark him as a terf regardless so he can't really win.
It's a sad indication of where things are now that someone acting like a reasonable adult and not going fully narc rage/toddler tantrum/etc seems like it might be a win. It's not though, he's hedging his bets.

But I agree with Milady, he is delicious...

IvyTwines · 21/01/2022 09:32

No, sadly it doesn't sound like he gets it. She has not said 'controversial things'. Nothing she has said would have been considered as anything other than sane, rational and humane until the flat earthers took over when social media poisoned the waters and declared us all heretics. And he wants to reserve the backstabbing until after he's given her a talking to, what, mansplaining to her why 'woman' is now just a notion in anyone's head, woman no longer have the right to choose the language used to describe themselves or their boundaries, and troubled teenagers amputating their body parts and being made sterile is simply the next stage of human progress?

bishophaha · 21/01/2022 09:34

I feel like anyone saying "it's a minefield" is exposing their true colours. You are supposed to think it's all very straightforward and unarguable, aren't you? What's the debate? You're either pro self-id and that self- identity literally makes you a man/woman, or you're a bigot. Right?

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 21/01/2022 09:36

I feel like I truly don't understand what she is meant to have said that is so bad. I'm absolutely understanding of trans but nothing she's said is offensive imo. Am I the only one?

AbandonedCharacter · 21/01/2022 09:38

"Still trying to angle a meeting through friend - she's not budging "

Sorry @Flingingmelon but she's no friend if she won't do this tiny thing for you! So selfish of her!😂

BraveBananaBadge · 21/01/2022 09:46

Good on him. A considered and grown up response. Of course she hasn't said anything controversial but putting this kind of question to anyone who has anything to do with her is an ambush, a lazy one, that can and does end up overshadowing anything else they've got to say. And better that than Radcliffe apologising to the world on JKR's behalf.

Anyway, Issacs is a 58-year-old man, so just like Robbie Coltrane and Stephen Fry before him, this is unlikely to make trouble for him.

Scraggythang · 21/01/2022 10:03

I always get the distinct impression none of them read her essay. They had a knee jerk reaction over the tweets because they perceived them to be transphobic or were told they were transphobic.
But if they read the essay, I’m not sure they absorbed much of what she wrote. As it seems to be a rather curious common occurrence, I wonder if they’ve just taken on second hand opinions that it’s very very controversial and transphobic and just ran with that line. But they wouldn’t be able to tell you, if pushed, what precisely is transphobic.

IvyTwines · 21/01/2022 11:01

Back when this kicked off, I actually saw someone in the media tweet out 'what are we thinking about Rowlings comments?' and when the Twitterati told him what he should be thinking he went with that, rather than engaging his own brain.

SunnyDelite · 21/01/2022 13:09

I think he probably get it but is just refusing to be drawn in to avoid all the hassle...

Cuck00soup · 21/01/2022 13:20

I wasn't convinced when I heard him on Times Radio the other day and Mariella tried to pin him down.

He batted the question away very deftly, but I got distinct be kind vibes.

Theeyeballsinthesky · 21/01/2022 13:24

Agree Sunny

I don’t think he believes it for one second but there’s no way he’s going to get drawn into it either.

anotherchocolate · 21/01/2022 15:07

Says he's not stabbing her in the back or the front then goes on to call her comments very controversial, oh yes Hmm

Last time I looked, David Thewlis seemed to actually be "getting it", or at least making a mockery out of the whole hullabaloo in some typically Marauder-like fashion. And of course Robbie Coltrane, who after years of playing a half-giant has developed more backbone than most.

BraveBananaBadge · 21/01/2022 15:57

Says he's not stabbing her in the back or the front then goes on to call her comments very controversial, oh yes

While I see why people aren't pleased with his seemingly thoughtless caveat, the use of the word 'backstabbing' implies that's exactly what he thinks Radcliffe et al have done. Which is quite the statement to make, really.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 21/01/2022 16:04

I was so surprised at the lack of backlash against David Thewlis (male effect notwithstanding) that I wondered if I'd misinterpreted him entirely.

Beamur · 21/01/2022 16:31

Well, her comments have caused enormous controversy. We wouldn't still be talking about this otherwise.
I think this seems like a reasonable media stance to take. He's publicly stating he won't villify JKR (unlike some) and praises the work she does.

Original poster
Awkwardy · 21/01/2022 19:21

@Beamur "Well, her comments have caused enormous controversy"

Indeed they have, to the point where Harry Potter fans who know nothing about the issue are utterly confused how one of our greatest living writers, who inspired an entire generation, and some of their parents, to queue up at midnight for a book!

...has somehow become the devil incarnate, some evil, human-hating wizened old crone. And anyone who actually looks into what she has said - people are people, love one another, men can't magically turn into women - is even more confused at the anger and vitriol poured her way.

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WarOnWoman · 21/01/2022 20:00

I don't think she's said anything controversial but plenty of people think it's controversial. In addition, any article you look at that mentions JKR in the media has controversial views attached to her name (usually controversial transgender views). Hmm

As far as Jason is concerned he is saying the trio did stab her in the back. That's a good thing. And if he doesn't want to talk about it, why should he? Of course, actors are going to be slippery/evasive if they don't want to talk about a particular issue.

SantaClawsServiette · 22/01/2022 04:08

But the things she says are, actually, controversial. I don't think they should be, and I think it's with a smaller group of people than those who think that way believe. But it is a controversy or we wouldn't be talking about it and people wouldn't be freaking out. That's what it means to be controversial.

SantaClawsServiette · 22/01/2022 04:13

TBH while I think it's good that more people talk about this, because of the silencing that's gone on, I also appreciate that actors don't want to talk politics in public. People in the public eye need to have some kind of privacy too and being public political personas as well as just known for their work can compromise that. Plus, they are actors and why should anyone care about their views of public controversies that have nothing to do with acting - I appreciate actors who have the self-awareness to be cognizant of that.