ARTICLES > Reader's Gem: Jason Isaacs Signed Photos

Reader's Gem: Jason Isaacs Signed Photos
Source: The Autograph Report - Leonid Likhatchev - leondark@cyberdude.com

Riga, LATVIA - Well, I never thought I would be writing a review for The Autograph Report Magazine, but having read all the great articles I decided to share something myself. First some brief info about myself - my name is "Leon Dark." I am 26 years old and I live in Riga, Republic of Latvia. For those of you who don't know about Latvia - it is a small country on the Baltic Sea (near Sweden). In fact it was part of the Soviet Union but is now an independent state.
I have been collecting for 2 1/2 years now. Being a huge movie buff I concentrate my efforts on movie and TV stars. I am not that interested in sports or political autographs. Since I began to collect autographs, my collection has grown to about 90, some are pretty popular stars and some are less popular. I have a few autographs that I consider so great that I wanted to share at least one of them with you, my fellow collectors.
The story begins with me, being a huge fan of the 1997 movie called "Event Horizon." This was a "Horror / Sci-Fi" flick set in space with a cast of about 8 actors, including: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Joely Richardson, Kathleen Quinlan, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee and Richard T. Jones.
At some point I became a fan of Jason Isaacs because his character "D.J." in this movie was really cool and tough. Many of you now know Isaacs for his great portrayal of Col. Tavington in the movie "Patriot," he wasn't known to the U.S. audience before it. What's interesting to me is that I haven't seen any other work of Jason Isaacs before, but became really interested in getting his autograph because to me he was the coolest actor. I was so addicted to this movie and the actors' personalities that I made a goal of obtaining signatures from all of them.
Inscribed "Best Wishes & Keep Watching!" One of three signed photos Isaacs sent Leon
I began to dig for info and it turned out that half of the cast, and Jason Isaacs himself were U.K. actors, so after trying to figure out addresses for them (either c/o BBC or c/o ICM) I started to send letters.
On a side note, I must tell you that I provide my own photos to almost all requests that I send. I believe it adds authenticity from my point and the exact pieces that I think are cool gets autographed. Also I print most of my letters on my computer, cause I hate writing.
With Jason Isaacs, it happened that I had been in the hospital for a month for back rehabilitation, nothing really serious, but I didn't have a computer there. So I ended up writing a letter by hand. So there it was - a one-page letter praising Jason for "Event Horizon," apologizing to him for my handwriting, explaining that I was in the hospital. I enclosed a picture I made from an "Event Horizon" slide (6x8 size), 2 IRC's and a SAE.
I sent everything to:
JASON ISAACS
c/o BBC
Wood Lane, London
W12 7RJ, England.
The same month I received my SAE back, postmarked from London, and OH MY! What I found in there:
  • My Event Horizon photo signed "Best wishes + Keep watching - Jason Isaacs"
  • His 8x10 BW signed "To Leonid, Best Wishes, Jason Isaacs - Watch out for Patriot coming 2000"
  • Same 8x10 BW signed "Luck & Love Jason Isaacs"
  • My 2 IRC unused
More Isaacs Jason also signed this BW 8x10 that he supplied
On the back of the personalized photo a letter (see photo) that Jason wrote by hand. That was the biggest, best, and most impactful response I have ever had. In his letter, Jason mentioned that he thanks me for support and the least he could do for me is throw in an extra photo and pay for postage. That was awesome. But you should read this letter for yourself, because at that point (Summer 99) I never knew what the "Patriot" was - but most of you now know obviously that for Jason, the "Patroit" was a huge success. Somehow he managed to foresee this great impact.
The Letter: Above is a scan of the letter that Leon received from Mr. Isaacs
What is also very interesting, that I tried to write him back and got a "Return to Sender." Since then, I have tried to contact him 4 times and even send him a collection of music on a CD. Not a single reply! And what's more interesting - is that I haven't seen any other people reporting a success with Mr. Isaacs.
Nevertheless despite the fact that I have Tom Hanks, Mel Brooks, Jean Claude Van Damme and Arnold in my collection, "Colonel Tavington," Jason Isaacs is, and probably will be, the best autograph in my collection, truly a gem.