It’s a dream for most film actors: hearing the words “You’re going to be in the next Star Wars movie.” Yes, we all know the last few were not very good, but what movie fan would ever want to pass up the opportunity to swing a lightsaber or fly the Millennium Falcon? Oscar Isaac is one of the latest actors to live that dream. He stars in a major role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he spoke to The New York Daily News about how important tapping into his youthful love of Star Wars was to playing his role.
Isaac admits that the night before filming on Star Wars Episode VII he was giddy as a kid. He recalls, “I remember being in my hotel room and using a shampoo bottle for an X-wing and flying it around my room. That’s how you tap back into that spirit.” He later adds, “In fact, I realized that was the key to the character and into the world was reverting back to that childlike feeling.”
Though Isaac has been praised for his roles in dramas like Inside Llewyn Davis and A Most Violent Year, he is not only starring in Star Wars but also will play the villain in the next X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse. On the career shift, Isaac notes, “I really do like Sci-fi. It’s never about aliens and mutants and robots (for me), it’s actually about the human condition and us trying to express something about existence and the mystery of it.”
Plus, you know, he gets to fly an X-wing spaceship. So what’s not to love?
