Before this year, I had no idea that Jason Isaacs was/is such a gossip. He played a big role in the gossip and conversations around The White Lotus and what happened between Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood. Jason also created his own controversy over his one nude scene in TWL (I mostly ignored it, because it was so crazy). Well, Jason sat down with Vulture for a lengthy profile in which he doesn’t seem to be promoting anything in particular. I get it – The White Lotus was a huge success, and all of the actors involved are still taking victory laps, as they should. I think that’s what this is. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

He’s observed people like TWL’s Tim Ratliff in their natural habitat: “Oh God. Yes. I played golf with them. Also, when I left university in 1985, Reagan and Thatcher were deregulating the finance world, meaning it was no longer a closed shop of families passing it on, and it exploded in England. If you could spell your own name, you were given two phones, a pager, an Armani suit, and a Porsche. Although I went to drama school, I remember hanging out with lots of those people, and I’m still vaguely connected with ones who made big money. Some of them lost it all up their nose, and some of them have retired and own half of a county somewhere. Tim wasn’t a stranger to me at all.”

On working with Parker Posey: “She’s Parker Posey. She’s everything you think she would be. She was playing someone out of her head, so she was given license to be bonkers. And then I’m playing someone out of my head. So I didn’t really look at her or talk to her or listen to her because I’m so much in my own tunnel. So I can’t really tell you what it’s like to interact with her too much.”

Every actor earns $40,000 an episode: “I didn’t know that was public knowledge. That’s absolutely true. Generally actors don’t talk about pay in public because it’s ridiculously disproportionate to what we do — putting on makeup and funny voices — and just upsets the public. But compared to what people normally get paid for big television shows, that’s a very low price. But the fact is, we would have paid to be in it. We probably would have given a body part.

On Mel Gibson (Isaacs is Jewish, btw): “[Mel] was very charming personally, and he’s intelligent and self-deprecating. He’s said and done some things that are unconscionable and unforgivable. I was invited by my friend to some charity cricket event for Australians in film. And he said, “If you come, Mel will.” And I said, “I don’t want to see Mel.” I hadn’t seen him since that terrible antisemitic outburst when he got stopped by the police. And my friend said, “Come on, mate. We’ll get loads of money for charity.” So I went, and Mel was there, and he called “Jace” across the room, very friendly. I went, “Rabbi Gibson, how are we?” He came up and he said, “I was really drunk, man. I was trying to get him to hit me or shoot me or something. I’m having a terrible time.” And he proceeded to unload some very personal things. He’s not my friend, but — maybe to my eternal shame — I forgave him instantly because he was there making himself vulnerable.”

Whether society should forgive people like Mel Gibson: “No, you can’t forgive everything from everyone. I’m not saying I forgive Mel. I’ve seen him once a decade for five minutes. We text each other once in a blue moon about something or other. I don’t know what to do with the fact that he put a character into The Passion of the Christ which is essentially a Jewish demon that doesn’t exist in the gospels. I have no idea what to do about him. But if he knocked on my door tonight and said, “Look, my hotel’s canceled. Can I stay?” I’d say, “Yes,” probably.”

He regrets not taking some movies for the money: “Well, financially I regret it. I don’t regret it careerwise or artistically. There’s a number of things I could have done over the years that would’ve made me rich. And now that I’m toward the autumn of my career, I think maybe I’m an idiot and I should have done some of those things and just banked it, because other people do. I’m constantly flicking through streamers, and I see well-known actors and go, Wow, when did they do that? And they obviously just went away for a month somewhere and made some money. I’ve not done that.

He hasn’t even been offered any commercial work! “Everybody else has already done commercials. I don’t think there’s a single cast member of The White Lotus that hasn’t got endorsement deals. Parker’s in a Gap advert and Patrick endorses a number of different fashion things, as does Sam Nivola. And Sarah Catherine Hook is doing some sneakers and stuff. I mean, God bless them, good luck to them. It’s not why I’m in the business. But I don’t miss it because I never had it. Nobody’s come knocking at my door. When they look at brand association and they look at the characters I’ve played, maybe they don’t want the subliminal associations with people who burn churches or take their wife’s drugs. But listen, if people start phoning me up asking me to sell their incontinence pants, or kettles, or tea bags or whatever the hell it is, I’m available.

[From Vulture]

I actually appreciate what Isaacs says about Mel Gibson, and I think he describes the nuance of it perfectly – Mel Gibson has said and done some heinous, unforgivable things… but on a personal level, Mel is a charming, charismatic man and Jason sort of likes him despite knowing intellectually that Mel f–king sucks. As for the money stuff… I guess I always thought he probably had more money as well? Jason is always working! He really should have taken some of those big-paycheck gigs. And I hope he gets some commercial work – I could see him doing Visa commercials or maybe Nespresso or something like that.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.