Oscar Isaac on STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and the Emotion of It All
Earlier today we posted an interview in which Oscar Isaac talkied about his role as the titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse, now we have another interview in which he discusses J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This guy's acting career is just blowing up all over the place, and it should be, because he's freakin' talented.
The interview comes from IGN, and in it, he shares his thoughts on the technology of filmmaking, living out his childhood dream, and watching Harrison Ford play Han Solo. As I'm sure you all noticed in the trailer, the movie is going to have a good mix of CGI and practical effects. Talking about the technology of making the movie, Isaac said,
"There was just so much love poured into it and so much care. The thing is, when you rely on the latest technology to tell your story -- and that's it -- that dates. It can date badly. Whereas, when you actually make the stuff, I think there's something about that that is a little bit more ageless."
I know you all know, that the statement he made there is true. I love when practical effects are used in film, there's a certain feel to it that CGI just can't replicate. I think it's funny that the Star Wars prequel films look more dated than the the original trilogy. The actor then talks about what it was like to be on the set of the film:
"It was totally like living out a childhood dream. Being on those sets and being surrounded by those people -- talking to Anthony Daniels, seeing him getting suited up, and Peter Mayhew putting on the suit again -- that was incredible."
I wish I could have visited the set. It would have been so cool to see all the stuff that we're going to see up on the big screen in person. The conversation then moved onto what it was like to work with Ford.
"If you watch Harrison Ford in [the originals], he doesn't give a f***, you know? [Laughs] He's just being a real person. He's funny. You can even hear little ad-libs and things like that... [It's similar on this film]. There's less of a formality, I think.
I think the biggest thing, the most important part of the story, is the emotional aspect of it. I think that's what most of us were keyed into: 'What is the emotion of the thing?' The spectacle is secondary to that."
Isaac had a great answer when he was asked about the whole crazy controversy over John Boyega playing a black Stormtrooper in the film.
"What's great about it is, it's like, 'Are you a racist? Here's a perfect way of revealing that to everyone!' [Laughs] What I loved about the trailer too is, like, the giant middle finger of the first thing you see, right off the bat: John's face -- BAM! So it is, yeah, 'Just deal with it.'"
There's no solid intel on who exactly Isaac is actually playing in the movie, but he is a rebel character. Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll pull it off brilliantly.