Disgrace to the nation

Jason Isaacs' role in American Revolution epic The Patriot suggests that the British were dastardly, cheating torturers - something he takes great pride in.

Last seen playing the priest in The End Of The Affair, Jason Isaacs is currently torturing his way through the American Revolution in The Patriot. As the villainous Colonel William Tavington, he gets to face off with Mel Gibson in what's by far the biggest movie role of his career. Now 37, Isaacs graduated from the Central School Of Speech And Drama and has appeared in award-winning plays like Angels In America, on TV in Capital City and Lynda LaPlante's Civvies, as well as playing the cleverest man on the planet in the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon.

  1. The Patriot
  2. Production year: 2000
  3. Country: USA
  4. Cert (UK): 15
  5. Runtime: 160 mins
  6. Directors: Roland Emmerich
  7. Cast: Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Joely Richardson, Mel Gibson, Tom Wilkinson
  8. More on this film

Is it true you cried after first reading the script for The Patriot?

Yeah. I'm very sentimental. I'm aesthetically sentimental. I cry at that Yellow Pages advert where they go out and buy their gardener a drive-around lawn-mower. I'm sad like that, but it was a cracking story.

Was it a fun film to make?

I had an embarrassingly enjoyable five months. I got to be on a horse every day, I got to command an army, I got to do scenes with some fantastic actors, one of whom was a global superstar. It was a very unhierarchical set. For a film that's full of battle scenes, it was a very gentle set. I didn't hear anybody raise their voice once.

What about Mel Gibson, notorious practical joker?

Mel jokes around a lot but he does it for very good reasons. Acting is play. I mean, it's not a very serious job. We're just like a bunch of kids playing around in a sandpit.

Didn't the Brit-bashing worry you?

Not at all. First of all, Britain's history with the empire is shameful. Then when I looked into the history of the man who was the base for the character I was playing, he was despised. He was known as "The Butcher" and he was famous for slaughtering his opponents when they'd surrendered and for leaving IOUs all over South Carolina.

So you had a lot in common with him?

Actually he has lots of strange parallels with my life: he was the third of four sons from Liverpool, which I am, and he studied law, which I did, and then he became addicted to gambling and whoring. I went to drama school, which isn't too dissimilar.

Why did you study law at Bristol University?

It seemed like something that problem-solvers should do. I've always liked doing crosswords and I thought it would exercise my brain. It turned out to be too much exercise because I'm a lazy sod.

So you took up acting instead and it all clicked?

The first time I went into a rehearsal room, I felt like I belonged. It didn't matter where you came from or what your accent was because you had a common purpose, and there was a ready-made community of friends, people to sleep with. I was always shy around girls but if you're rehearsing with someone and you get to know them well, you end up sleeping with them. Certainly as a student that was the case.

Would you like to be a leading man?

There's virtually nothing to do as an actor in leading man parts, other than be charming and charismatic. I'm not an actor because I really want people to know who I am; I think one of the reasons I was attracted to acting is that I get to be other people.

This is your highest-profile role so far, but you don't seem to be getting too excited.

I think that's pretty sensible. I've got lots of mates who've had jobs that got people saying, "This is really going to change your life," and it not only didn't change their life, it really screwed them up. My life is really pretty good at the moment. I hope things don't change too much, I don't want them to.

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