By Phillip Berk
“Return Of The Jedi,” Oscar Isaac replies when FilmInk asks him for the first Star Wars movie that he saw. “My dad took me to see it when I was four or five-years-old. I remember that moment when the helmet comes off Darth Vader and you see that he is actually a sad, old man underneath. That made a big impression.” After delivering powerful performances in films like Balibo, Sucker Punch, Drive, W.E., Won’t Back Down, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Two Faces Of January, and A Most Violent Year, the Guatemala-born Oscar Isaac will now get to make his own impression upon a whole new generation of Star Wars fans (and the old ones too) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where he takes on the role of heroic but impulsive X-Wing pilot, Poe Dameron, one of the three new leads, alongside John Boyega and Daisy Ridley.
When asked for his favourite Star Wars character, Isaac throws down a true legend. “I was always a big fan of Lando Calrissian,” he says of Billy Dee Williams’ super-smooth one-time smuggler and general rapscallion. “Billy Dee was so cool. I like characters who you think are one thing, and then they turn into something else. I loved that you never knew where you stood with him.” Isaac’s Star Wars character, however, has none of Lando’s compromised jadedness. “My character, Poe Dameron, is eager to prove himself to be the hero that he believes he can be. He can be reckless in that. He’s a fun character who brings a lot of humour to the film. We’ve found ways of bringing more of that through voiceover and ADR. He’ll be a fun character to follow throughout the franchise.”
Not surprisingly, Isaac has complete clarity of recall when it comes to the moment when he got his first call for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “I was in the middle of shooting A Most Violent Year, and I got a call saying that J.J wanted me to fly to Paris to talk to him. They didn’t say for what, but immediately I got very excited. I called some of my family members, who are the biggest Star Wars fans on Earth. My uncle has cases and cases of Star Wars toys all glass encased, and he actually ended up coming to set. J.J hired him to work as an extra in the movie! I’d told J.J all about him, and he put him in costume. He put a wig on him, and he put him right behind me in one of the scenes. So yeah, I flew out to meet J.J, and I couldn’t believe it. It was incredible.”
What makes J.J so special? “His willingness to be collaborative,” Isaac replies. “He was so open about changing the trajectory of the character. It was a very different idea initially. We talked about it, and I said, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, let me think about it.’ I had questions, but I realised that if I expressed them, he could say no, and I could lose the job, but if I had the chance, why not? And to see J.J open up to my suggestions was a revelation.”
Another revelation for Isaac has been the chance to see himself reinvented in multiform through various pieces of merchandising. “I saw one of those big bobble heads of my character, but it’s funny, because I actually felt a separation from it,” the actor tells FilmInk. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my character, but it doesn’t feel like it’s me.’ That was uncomfortable for me to think about, having my face on those things…but not quite as uncomfortable as knowing that I don’t get a cut of any of that!”
Seeing himself as a bobble head, however, was nothing compared to Oscar Isaac’s first meeting with superstar, Harrison Ford. As well as a big personal moment, it also represented a major piece of new universe building, with a key touchstone of the original Star Wars trilogy linking up with one of the actors that will continue it forward, keeping that galaxy far, far away well and truly alive. “It was hard to maintain a sense of equanimity, and to believe that they were just my fellow actors,” Oscar Isaac smiles. “There was that part of me that grew up with them, and to see Harrison dressed up in character, and to see Chewbacca standing next to him? What dream am I in where this is actually happening! And then to observe someone like Harrison – a tough cookie made of leather and nails – putting his heart into it, without any cynicism? Well, that was amazing.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released on December 17.
