FilmSpeak and @ReelSchool bring you their Jason Isaacs Interview where the actor chats about his 2021 Sundance hit Mass, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, and more!
Forgiveness is one of the most awesome capacities that human beings possess. Its capability to heal is nothing short of cathartic, but the difficulty that comes with doing it can often be staggering. This is only compounded when forgiveness is a possibility confronted in the face of unimaginable tragedy, and it is this particular type of forgiveness that is at the heart of “Mass”, the tour de force directorial debut of Fran Kranz. Starring Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney, “Mass” is about two sets of parents - one the parents of a school shooter, the other of their victim - meeting face-to-face years after the tragedy.
“Mass” creates a powerful statement on the human condition, and this was a vital part of why Isaacs took the role. “I do all those other [roles] for money sometimes, and sure we need a variety of entertainment,” said Isaacs, “but Mass is what stories are about. It was such an overwhelming experience to make, and that would’ve been enough, frankly, for me. It’s such a relief and so inspiring to know that other people might get out of it something like what we put into it.”
However, “Mass”, while touching on the serious and tragic issue of gun violence, isn't exactly a PSA more than it is a way to help heal. “It doesn’t have a message, we could’ve just made a bumper sticker [for that],” Isaacs said of the film's content. “It’s such a human experience watching it, and it deals with forgiveness, and how we see each other as human, how we shed the baggage of our past, how we need to see each other and hear each other. It doesn’t provide easy answers, but I just felt infinitely more human and hopeful at the end of this story. It just felt so ambitious and I was living in fear that it might not work, and it seems like it does.”
Isaacs also expanded on how true to life the film is, and how that played into the making of the film. “These meetings really happen between parents. Things like this do happen, and they’re very painful, there’s no roadmap through it. We started with the script, [and then] we had two days in a room which was supposed to be rehearsal but was really talking. And then we just got straight into filming. But what we did when we talked, and what we did every night between shooting, is build a shared history of things that have happened to us. Where things start to go wrong [in the film] is we arrive with a plan of who we think we are, what we think the other person needs to do, rules we’ve set for ourselves, and of course, it all goes to shit almost immediately.”
There's an arc to “Mass”, and it largely deals with the way our openness to others can change our perspective, which is also delivered exquisitely by the cast. “There are things our characters think about ourselves, and there are things the audience begins to realize that they don’t know about themselves. We trusted the many layers of the script to unpeel themselves. I looked at these other actors and they were utterly believable.”
“This is a time of spectacular division. The world is not in a great place, and the ground is so fertile for people to sow hatred and turn us against each other,” said Isaacs. “[Mass] is a plea for empathy. It’s not neat and perfect, but Roger Ebert said films are a machine for empathy, and that’s never more true than of a film like 'Mass'.”
“Mass” has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive reviews from its Sundance premiere. Check out our full interview with Jason Isaacs below where we discuss “Mass”, “Peter Pan”, “Event Horizon”, the “Harry Potter” series, and more!
#JasonIsaacsInterview #JasonIsaacs #MassSundance2021 #SundanceFilmFestival2021 #Sundance2021 #JasonIsaacsHarryPotter #JasonIsaacsPeterPan #PeterPan
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5 окт 2024
