It’s been a few hours, and The White Lotus star Jason Isaacs still hasn’t fully digested the fact that he’s an Emmy nominee. “It’s bewildering,” Isaacs tells Gold Derby. “It’s slightly surreal and lovely, and lovely that so many other The White Lotus people are in the same boat with me because obviously the common denominator is [creator and director] Mike White’s brilliant writing. It’s why we’ve all been noticed.”
The nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series is a career-first for Isaacs, who plays the wealthy Southerner Timothy Ratliff on HBO’s buzzy third season. As a businessman whose shady dealings catch up to him, Isaacs’ Timothy embarks on a turmoil-fueled inner journey and just barely makes it out alive. “It’s what you want as an actor,” Isaacs says. “You want a challenge, and I guess if I’m really honest I was scared. I was kind of terrified to take the job, because [the role] didn’t have any words. It was mostly silent. He was suicidal and homicidal, and then broken-hearted, and he had this gigantic spiritual journey. It’s all the stuff you want as an actor.”
Isaacs’ performance inspired frenzied online responses from viewers, who never knew if Timothy was about to take out his whole family or zone out on pills. “Nobody buys a ticket to watch The Village of the Happy People,” Isaacs jokes. “Drama is always about people in extraordinary situations, but other people had more naturalistic storylines and I had this very melodramatic thing to carry off. But I felt like I was in safe hands because all of Mike White’s shows come out great, and he’s not only a wonderful writer but a wonderful director as well. I felt like he was going to catch me if I fell.”
Isaacs credits White largely for his Emmys recognition. “The thing about the Emmys is it’s your peers, it’s your colleagues, it’s other people who I respect so much,” he said. “I feel like what they’re noticing, and I’m not arrogant enough to think it’s anything to do with me, is that it’s an award for the luckiest bastard in show business. I got one of the juicy course banquet parts to play, and of course I had the greatest coach in the world to help me through things.”
Isaacs is joined in his category by costars Walton Goggins and Sam Rockwell, whom he praised as immense talents. “It’s nice that we’ll all be there on the night together,” he tells us, smiling at the thought of attending TV’s biggest night. “Whichever one of us goes up onstage, really, I feel like it’s a big ensemble show and the acknowledgement is an acknowledgement that there aren’t many shows where people depict characters in the full nuance of their three-dimensional human behavior. It felt like a Shakespearean tragedy and you don’t get that very often.”
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“This [nomination] has reminded me … chase the good writers. When you get great writing and great people to collaborate with, you look better as an actor, and you end up with people giving you praise and acknowledging you and maybe nominating you or giving you awards. I’ve had them in the past, and it’s always been for times that I know I’ve been around phenomenally talented people. A rising tide floats all boats. Find the talented people and stick to them.”
Does recognition at this point in his career mean more to him or add to his confidence as a performer? “I don’t have any confidence,” he quips, “which doesn’t mean I’m under-confident, but just that I’m appropriate as an actor, performer, and artist. I’m utterly vulnerable. … On the set, in character, I went to Hell as much as you can imaginatively. … I can’t pretend it’s not nice to get a bit of praise or flattery. There’s plenty of people who I’m sure thought I was rubbish. Luckily they were outvoted.”
