Jason Isaacs shares why he thought Michael Bay would fire him during shoot of 'Armageddon'

Washington, April 24: Actor Jason Isaacs recalled being questioned by director Michael Bay on the first day about his performance during the shoot of the 1998 science fiction disaster film, 'Armageddon', starring an stars an ensemble cast including Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David, Owen Wilson, William Fichtner and Steve Buscemi.

"I do the one scene in which I speak, and Michael goes, 'Hey, what is that? theatre training?' " recalled Isaacs, adding after listening to the question from Bay, he replied, "I absolutely....myself, obviously, thinking I'm gonna be fired. I'm clearly declaiming all over the place," reported People.

He said he apologised, "And [Michael] goes, 'Is that what they teach you in theatre school?' And I thought, 'Oh my God. This is my worst nightmare,' " Isaacs added, as per the outlet.

"And I scurry over to him, and I go, 'Was that terrible?' He goes, 'No. It was awesome,' " he added.

Led by Bruce Willis, Armageddon follows the story of NASA enlisting a group of oil drillers to fly into space, land on a massive asteroid that's hurtling towards Earth, drill into the rock and insert a nuclear bomb to destroy it. It was a massive hit, reported People.

Jason Isaacs, who played scientist Ronald Quincy, shared, "I remember thinking, 'This is the low point of my career,' " said Isaacs.

"I was playing 'the smartest man on the planet,' as Billy Bob explained to the astronauts what they were gonna do, and I was holding a papier-mache asteroid on a stick, thinking, 'I'm not sure the smart man on the planet will be doing this,' " he continued. " 'Will I ever work again?' That's what I was thinking," he added, reported People.

Reader Comments

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Sarah K.

Love hearing these behind-the-scenes stories! Michael Bay seems intense but Jason handled it like a pro. Armageddon is still one of my favorite 90s movies 🚀

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Mark T.

That papier-mache asteroid detail killed me 😂 Shows how even big budget movies have their ridiculous moments. Jason's self-deprecating humor is great.

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James L.

Respectful criticism here - while the movie was entertaining, I always thought the science was laughably bad. But I guess that's part of the Bayhem charm!

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Amanda R.

Jason Isaacs is such an underrated actor! From this to Lucius Malfoy - his range is incredible. More people should talk about his performances.

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Derek P.

"Was that terrible?" "No. It was awesome." - classic director move to mess with actors 😆 This story made my day!

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