Poe Dameron himself, Oscar Isaac, recently joked that he’ll only return to Star Wars for the paycheck.
Perhaps the best aspect of the most recent trilogy was the new characters. Rey, Finn and Poe were all immensely likable and you could clearly see the actors were all having a blast making Star Wars films. But working on a giant blockbuster isn’t the most gratifying experience. After all, spectacle tends to take precedence over performance and character development.
In fact, Isaac hasn’t been shy about being disappointed that the relationship between Poe and Finn wasn’t explored on a more personal level. Instead, both characters were given female love interests that felt shoehorned into the story in order to give them greater motivation. Imagine how much more interesting the trilogy would have been though had Poe and Finn been romantically involved. But Disney would never touch such a subject and this might be the root of Isaac’s disinterest in returning.
While speaking with Deadline about his new film, The Cloud Counter, he opened up about his experience on Star Wars and how he’s always been drawn to smaller projects.
“I enjoyed the challenge of those films and working with a very large group of incredible artists and actors, prop makers, set designers, and all that was really fun. It’s not really what I set out to do. What I set out to do was to make handmade movies, and to work with people that inspire me. Paul [Schrader]’s movies, the things that he’s made, it’s in my DNA. I’m not alone, obviously. [For] every actor of a certain generation, those are the films that made them who they are, so that’s certainly my case. It feels like for me a personal turning point and that, as far as I’m concerned, it has nothing to do with the finished product. It’s the process of doing this.”
As to whether he would ever return to the franchise, Isaac had a funny response, saying:
“Probably, but who knows. If I need another house or something.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Isaac has expressed frustration in working on a big budget movie. He famously said that working on X-Men: Apocalypse was excruciating.
The majority of actors who reach a level of success will inevitably take “paycheck” jobs at some point. I mean, Michael Caine said once that he only did Jaws: The Revenge because it paid for one of his houses. Isaac is no different and more power to him. The recent iteration of Star Wars certainly had its highs and lows, but it’s ultimately a money-making machine on an assembly line. Not exactly a gratifying experience for an actor attempting to craft a performance.
