Jason Isaacs has revealed that he initially turned down his role as Cary Grant in new ITV drama Archie, saying taking on the part was "too big boots for anyone to fill".
The Harry Potter actor portrays the movie icon in the new four-part series, which looks at the life of the actor, real name Archibald Leach, who began life with a difficult childhood in Bristol before rising to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
Appearing on last night's (November 21) The One Show, Isaacs was asked about initial "reservations" he had on accepting the part, explaining he only came around when he read the scripts.
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"Reservations? I thought over my dead body was I going to play Cary Grant!" he admitted. "You'd have to be a lunatic. The whole world lusted after him for decades, and they're just too big boots for anyone to fill.
"But I read the scripts, and they're not about Cary Grant. They're about Archie Leach, which is who he was when he stepped off screen. He was a very damaged, very neurotic, anxious man. He was tortured by these wounds from his childhood that never healed.
"He was the very opposite of all those adjectives: suave, debonair, lady-killer. People got restraining orders against him, and he cried a lot and he drank a lot. He was extremely unstable… hurt people hurt people."
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Isaacs continued: "Not only was he damaged, but this relationship with Dyan Cannon, which was full of so much love at the beginning, goes very, very sour quickly, as many of his marriages do.
"So that I thought I could play, because I know what being a lunatic is."
As well as Isaacs, Archie stars Killing Eve's Harriet Walter, Bridgerton's Calam Lynch, Gavin and Stacey's Laura Aikman, Ragdoll's Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Coronation Street's Ian Puleston-Davies, Doc Martin's Ian McNeice, McDonald & Dodds' Jason Watkins, EastEnders' Lisa Faulkner and The Virtues' Niamh Cusack.
Archie will air on ITVX from November 23.
Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
