Oscar Isaac Talks The Force Awakens Lightsabers and his Uncle’s Cameo.
During a discussion about Isaac’s latest movie – A Most Violent Year, Vulture managed to ask the actor several questions about The Force Awakens. Find out what he said after the jump.
From Vulture:
When he got a part in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (also known as Episode VII), he let director J.J. Abrams in on a little family secret — he comes from a family of Star Wars geeks. “My family couldn’t even believe it, it was the most amazing thing that ever could have happened,” “My uncle, my brother, my cousin are all Star Wars geeks. They’re like the biggest Star Wars fans of all time. My uncle almost passed out when he found out.” So Isaac arranged for his uncle to visit the set, where Abrams surprised him with an offer he couldn’t refuse. “He asked him, ‘You want to be in the movie?’ And so he put him in as an extra!” Isaac said. “Isn’t that the most amazing thing?” What his uncle gets to do, or, for that matter, everything he gets to do, Isaac can’t reveal just yet — “I can’t tell you any of that stuff!” — but he will admit to being a fan of the new-and-improved lightsabers. “They do look very cool.”
Hmm, why is the X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron discussing lightsabers? Is he using one? Tell us what you think in the comments below or in The Cantina.
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Maybe he’s the bartender 😀
He is Wuher’s son. 🙂
Is that a guess or something you’ve heard Viral?
There’s a guy I work with who looks just like he would be Wuher’s kid, though I get the sense that Wuher wasn’t really a family man.
Unfortunately Pegg is the bartender.
I hate Pegg and his overacting, I don’t give a damn how much J.J. likes him, Simon Pegg never should have been allowed to go to Hollywood.
simon pegg and nick frost are great.
“They” look very cool hmm?
Am I reading too much into that or is that confirmation that Kylo Ren’s saber isn’t unique?
By the sound of it, it doesn’t seem like you are looking to far in to it.
I thought about that too, but he could just be saying they are each cool in their own way, not that they follow the same aesthetic as the broadsaber.
I think it would be interesting if the [trailer] villain uses multiple sabers that he has collected over time and they each represent different eras. I love the idea that he is trying to emulate the Sith he has researched and is using their relics to place himself among them. I would also love to see something like the “protosabers” used in some of the “Tales of the Jedi” comics. Not very practical against a “modern” saber, but it would be a nice Easter egg.
Love this idea! Hope your right!
Wonder if the stormtrooper guns might have a Lightsaber built in. Looks like Kenobi’s pomell on the end of the ones in the trailer, and they ARE using some discarded designs from Ep.IV. Maybe wishful thinking.
The moral of the story is. Don`t expect to get anywhere far in life unless you have friends or in this case family members in high places. They should give these `extras` roles to struggling actors trying to get their foot on the ladder not family members. Its not what you know its who you know eh ? why not just write it into the contract for the next film, no real actors, just family members from the cast. Let your uncles, nephews, cousins know for casting.
Or to the 7 Make-a-wish kids who waited months in the hope of just being an extra and then got denied by Disney. 🙁
I guess nepotism is alive and well. Although it’s only one extra out of who knows how many. So in your somewhat cynical view did Ewan McGregor get the role of Obiwan simply because his uncle Dennis played Wedge? Doubtful.
Ewan McGregor’s an accomplished actor who had to audition for the role and got it because of his likeness to a young Alec Guiness. He’s not some “average Joe” who had a cameo only because he was a a huge fan of SW related to someone in the film(s).
Moreover, taking Lawson’s thoughts on SW into account, being related to the guy might be more of a hurdle rather than a boost to your chances of being cast in a SW film.
Ewan McGregor looks nothing like a young Alec Guinness.
haha…who cares?
The point’s that McGregor played young OB-1 in the PT, not just some extra, and not because of his uncle, a man that seems to dislike SW as much as Alec Guiness did, if not more so.
Jesus. You must have a rosy outlook on life in general, huh? The guy’s a star of a movie, his uncle is a huge fan of the series, and the director lets the uncle play one of THOUSANDS of extras (probably under a helmet) – who gives a shit? Nepotism? Because he got paid? Jesus.
As an experienced Extra myself, I don’t think being an extra is really a stepping-stone to acting.
Bit-Parts, yes.
Extra, NO.
To extras the one-liner people are almost as alien as the big stars.
The whole purpose of extras is usually to not be noticed, hardly a place to showcase acting.
The extras I’ve met are definitely more interested in quick cash than acting, otherwise they would be auditioning for Advertising.
That said, this is only based on what I’ve seen in the Chinese Film Industry.
My general impression is that Extras (the guys wrangling Tauntauns in background) ARE NOT Bit-Parts (as in that pilot who says: “Echo Base, I have found them! Repeat: I have found them!”)
It would be cool to make Poe Dameron a Corran Horn type character. In the EU, Horn was a member of Rogue Squadron. He was a human from Corellia with Jedi blood. He was the answer to the question: What if Han Solo was a Jedi? He was also in the Corellian Security Force (kind of like the FBI). So he was a triple threat – a cop, an ace pilot, and a Jedi. It would be cool to see a character like that in the ST. Maybe Isaac’s character will fit that description. I noticed while reading Tarkin, that Armand Isard is a character who because of this book is now canon. In the former EU, he is the father of Imperial villainess Ysanne Isard of the X-Wing series (in which Corran Horn was created). Maybe we will be seeing more influence from this series (some of the best of the Legends material IMO)on future canon material. Time will tell. 🙂
Poe Dameron is surely going to end up being Han Solo & Leia’s son! Poe Solo. It’s possible he’ll use a light sabre but I bet he’ll favour the blaster, like his dad. Rey Solo will be the light sabre wielder I think… Guess we’ll wait and see…
Yes…yes…. good…..everything is proceeding as I have forseen it.
What else is he going to say?
“Oh, they look stupid”
Of course not!
The ‘lightsabers’ he’s been working around are just metal rods. So he likely knows as much about them as we do.
I probably would have asked him about X-wing paraphernalia [Is your X-wing black by any chance??], but the interviewer likely has the attitude of “Oh, hey! You’re in STAR WARS!? So you’re playing some Jedi, right?”
He could have seen some finished saber effects. Also, he could be talking about the hilts, not the blades.
True..
Maybe he’s just referring to the “new and improved” lightsaber that we’ve all seen in the teaser.
That would obviously fall outside of his non-disclosure agreement, whereas mentioning lightsabers from the film that we haven’t officially seen, even in the general sense of mentioning that they are “new and improved”, might be rather dicey from a legal standpoint.
He didn’t call them “new and improved.” Those were the writers words. He is just quoted as saying they are cool. And even if he had said that, I don’t think it would violate the NDA because it doesn’t really tell us anything about them. It is a generic, subjective saying.
No way he could use a lightsaber because no Jedi ever flew an X-Wing… ever.
Are we being sarcastic again here?
Playing way too much, as always, into these little scraps of “news.”
Just like Mark Hamill got to play with BB-8 a little, Isaac simply got to see and handle some props.
Jesus, people…Isaac looks at a prop, mentions it’s cool, and now suddenly he’s a friggin’ lightsaber-wielding Jedi pilot, and how dare Abrams and Disney destroy our childhoods with such impossibility because there’s no such thing just like no lightsaber ever had a hilt.
“Sometimes a cigar…is just a cigar.”
That’s what SHE said!
Hey, my uncle’s gonna be in TFA, too!
Yeah, the third row from the back.
ZING!
I heard a rumor that Isaacs and Ridley would be the love story. If that’s the case could Isaacs be playing a Jag Fel type character?
“Why is the X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron discussing lightsabers?”
Because he was asked about it? lol
On an unrelated note, what’s that SW “insider”‘s name?
“SupernovæGuy” or whatever it was ….
With all the info we have now on TFA,
was he the least bit right about ANY of it?
Just curious.
I wonder if this means that all lightsabers look different now?
Oscar Issac has the look
But unfortunately *looks to Boyega* he wasn’t black enough and ugly enough to be a lead.
Like ‘cuz you know I’m right. =)
Why would the actors be privy to the post-production process, and know what the finished lightsaber footage looks like with the glowing blade effects added? Usually they have to wait like the rest of us to see what the post-production wizards come up with. As Talon Karrde said above, Isaacs most likely has only seen the handle props (with metal rods attached). Maybe the handle designs just look ‘new and improved’ compared to what we’ve seen in the past. The hilt in the concept art did look a bit different from the old Graflex (sp?) props.
He’s just the friend and third wheel to the main duo using lightsabers and getting IT on. 😉
Oscar Isaac should be the star of this movie.
He’s got screen presence and should be getting big movie roles after Star Wars .
Hope this movie succeeds and doesn’t have a sucky storyline.
Because I’m worried about every new plot that comes out.
I should have stayed away from the spoilers.