Oscar Isaac talks about auditioning for Star Wars and story speculation

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Oscar Isaac has done a pretty good job of flying under the radar this past decade, but that's all going to change within the next year. At the moment, A MOST VIOLENT YEAR is raking in some great word-of-mouth due to his performance (check out our review here). Isaac also has the brilliant looking EX MACHINA due to hit theaters in April, which features STAR WARS co-star Domhnall Gleeson. Let us not forget that he'll also be portraying Apocalypse himsef in Bryan Singer's X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, which will street in 2016. However, let's bring it back to STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS and the brief shot we see of him in the trailer as X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron. While making the publicity rounds for A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, Oscar Isaac opened up about his audition for the role and his thoughts on theories regarding the plot for the upcoming space opera.

Oscar Isaac on the audition process and if he was sent a script:

They won’t even do that. You go to the place, and they have a room with cameras and you sit there and read the script. They’re incredibly protective, because nowadays, with however many hundreds of blogs and this and that, people are just ravenous for content. So because of that, there has to be such tight security around it. And it gets in the way of the process a bit, but it’s understandable.

Regarding leaked pictures and plot theories:

I can’t speak for the cast and crew, I can just speak for myself, but for me I thought, Don’t you want to wait so you can get the real thing? But it creates excitement for it. I don’t think these little leaks necessarily ruined watching the trailer. And also, the [plot theories] that get that formulated based on these things — they couldn’t be more far off-base.

Regarding what we see of him in the trailer:

It was hard to believe that I was actually sitting in there and doing that. And it’s physical. You have to kind of get in touch with that child again that had a little X-Wing and would fly around his room making crazy sounds, you had to tap into that spirit again and that was a lot fun. There was a lot of practical effects. A lot of the stuff they actually made. There wasn’t a lot of green screen.

I think any way you slice it, there's going to be a tremendous amount of hype for a film that carries the STAR WARS moniker. We'll just have to see if J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan cooked up a story that meets or surpasses expectation. It's by no means impossible, and if casting is any indication, they're certainly headed in the right direction. I've never really thought this of any previous STAR WARS flicks, but I really love the ensemble cast assembled for THE FORCE AWAKENS. You have your big names and your up-and-comers, but they've all delivered some very solid work. I can't wait to tap into the spirit again come this December.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS arrives in theaters on December 18.