Oscar Isaac is already recognized as one of the best actors out there right now after incredible performances in movies like A Most Violent Year and Ex Machina, but his career looks set to reach another level after starring in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and X-Men: Apocalypse.
In the latter, Isaac will be playing the villainous Apocalypse, and in a rather strange coincidence, the trailer for that will be shown in front of the new Star Wars movie (in which he plays Poe Dameron). Asked how that feels in a recent interview, the actor replied:
“It’s very cool. It’s going to be in front of Star Wars when they show the trailers in theaters. I’m very excited. We’ll see how many people realize that Apocalypse and Poe are the same person.”
He then went on to shed some more light on the version of Apocalypse he’ll be playing in the new X-Men movie, weighing in on some of the places Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg have turned to for inspiration and the fact that this interpretation of the villain is actually the one he’s most fond of.
“Depends which comic you are talking about. There’s X-Factor, there’s X-Men, there’s The Age of Apocalypse, there’s the animated series, there’s X-Men: Evolution, so when someone says Apocalypse without referring a comic book, it’s a very general question. They may want to state which is their Apocalypse first. He’s definitely not going to be everyone’s favorite version of Apocalypse, but he’s my favorite version of Apocalypse.
It’s something from the 80s mixed in with something new. They either create a backstory that he was this mutant from Ancient Egypt that found this technology and they explore that story or they send him to another universe where he’s more powerful than he’s ever been. He’s turned all these other X-Men into villains. There are different ways that artists and creative people get the chance to explore his story on a massive scale if they do. In this one, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg took the inspiration from many different sources, many different versions of Apocalypse throughout the ages and found the one that we thought was the most interesting.”
It also turns out that Isaac has been a fan of the X-Men long before he was cast as the iconic villain.
“I read all of them. I love Apocalypse. I grew up collecting X-Factor. I remember when the first comic book came out, and for me, especially because I grew up in a religious household, I knew about the book of revelations, the second coming, the Apocalypse, and then you see this comic book character that is supposed to embody all of these ideas. For some people they just thought he was this big blue guy and it was survival of the fittest, but for me, that was less interesting. The most interesting part for me was the Biblical aspect and end of the world and the revelation of the way things were before.”
The actor’s passion for this role is clear to see, and while it’s apparent that this version of the character isn’t exactly like the one in comics, it’s going to be very interesting to see how he ends up being portrayed in X-Men: Apocalypse. With Oscar Isaac bringing him to life though, you know it will be something memorable.