The actor discussed his character’s North Carolina accent and the show’s ending on The Tonight Show
Jason Isaacs does not like being asked about the prosthetic penis he wore on The White Lotus. However, the British actor has since managed to find some humor in the highly viral scene.
Appearing on The Tonight Show, Isaacs was asked the reaction to his character’s accent and took the opportunity to make light of his full frontal moment.
“The Internet was concerned with two things,” Isaacs told host Jimmy Fallon. “My penis and my accent.” He joked, of how he created the very particular accent, “This I think I can tell you: I was wearing a prosthetic tongue to do the accent. Durham, North Carolina, is hard to get your lips around. Because my real tongue is small, green, shriveled, and shaped like a pretzel.”
He explained that there was some confusion from viewers over what his accent was supposed to sound like. “People all over the Internet were going, ‘This accent — he sounds Australian, he sounds English,” the actor said.
Isaacs added that he’s been to Durham “quite a lot” and understands the specifics of the region. So when fans accused him of not sounding Southern or Texan, he didn’t understand their issue. “I know I don’t sound f-ing Texan because I’m not meant to be from Texas!” Isaacs confirmed.
Isaacs said that being part of The White Lotus meant that he had to “trust Mike [White]’s brilliant storytelling.” The process of playing Timothy Ratliff was fairly miserable since the character is at his breaking point. “You try and be the thing as best you can, and I was really lonely and miserable as him,” he said. The actor added that he does think the character is going to be okay.
Elsewhere during the interview Isaacs discussed playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, noting that he felt a sense of “terror” at having to share the screen with Alan Rickman. “All good creative things come from terror,” he acknowledged.
The actor and Fallon also shot a sketch backstage combining Isaacs’ characters from The White Lotus and Harry Potter.
