He’s known the galaxy over, from Poe Dameron in the sequel trilogy to Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein, which enjoyed a brief cinema run before landing on Netflix on 7th November, and in GQ he discusses the film and his feelings on returning to the GFFA as General Dameron.
GQ: This was a bucket list project for Guillermo—the film he’s been wanting to make since before he started making films. How did he pitch it to you?
Oscar Isaac: I went to his house, just to meet. We sat in his kitchen and ordered take-out Cuban food, and we’re sitting there eating rice and beans and pork, and we just started talking about our fathers. We started talking about our dads, and the pain and the joy and forgiveness, and becoming fathers ourselves and what’s inherited, as far as pain and trauma. And how one moves forward in relation to that kind of a past and either trying to run away from it or trying to fix it or change it or holding onto a lot of these resentments. And at the end of that conversation, he said, “I’m making Frankenstein, and I think you need to play Victor.”
And I said, “You’re doing what?” He’s like, “It’s this thing I’ve always wanted to make, and I just think that you need to be Victor.” And so of course it was an incredible moment, but I was protective of getting too excited. I’m like, Maybe he’s just having an aneurysm right now, or who knows—maybe he just says that to everybody, that’s like his pickup line. And then within a few months he was writing pages. And within a year—well, at first he gave me Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when I left. And the Tao Te Ching. And he was like, “These are the two books you need to read.” And then we kept talking, and then within a year he had the whole beginning and the end and then descriptions of a lot of the middle. And we got together in New York, and we sat down and I read basically all the parts and he just watched and listened. And particularly the ending, which is so much about how do you move forward with a broken heart and how do you forgive? We were both just in tears. And then it started to feel real.
And his thoughts on Star Wars.
GQ: You said once that you would never return to Star Wars unless you needed another house.
OI: Yeah. That was a real likable quote. Jesus Christ. Y’know, people ask you things, you say stuff, you don’t really think about it that much. I said a slightly dickish thing.
GQ: But you’ve softened on this, in recent years. You’ve said, Well, maybe. Why not?
OI: Yeah. I mean, I’d be open to it, although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney. But if they can kinda figure it out and, you know, not succumb to fascism, that would be great. [Ed. note: This interview was conducted two days after ABC and Disney suspended production of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in response to comments Kimmel made following the death of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel was back on the air four days after this conversation took place.]
