Oscar Isaac’s ‘Star Wars’ Burnout Is Going Away: ‘I’m So Open’ for More Poe Dameron
Oscar Isaac appears to have changed his course when it comes to a possible return to “Star Wars.” The actor played fan-favorite Poe Dameron in the most recent “Star Wars” trilogy with Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn, but he ended his run burnt out and doubtful that he’d ever return for more. However, Isaac recently said during a SiriusXM interview that he’s “so open” to more “Star Wars” as long as “there was a great story and a great director.”
“I don’t know. I’m open to anything. You never know,” Isaac said when asked about returning to the “Star Wars” franchise. “I have no real feeling one way or another. I’m open to any good story. Time is the one thing that becomes challenging…as you get older and kids and all that. Where do [movies] fit in? If there was a great story and a great director and [Lucasfilm president] Kathy [Kennedy] came to me and was like, ‘I have this great idea,’ then I’m so open to it.”
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Isaac’s more gung-ho attitude in regards to more “Star Wars” is miles away from the burnout he expressed following the release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The actor said in several interviews that post-“Star Wars” he was desperate to return to more character-driven work like Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter.”
Isaac couldn’t have been more blunt at the 2021 Venice Film Festival when he said, “I’ve been in green-screen space land for quite a few years and I was desperate to do a character study.”
“It’s not really what I set out to do,” Isaac said in one interview about making “Star Wars”-sized movies. “What I set out to do was to make handmade movies, and to work with people that inspire me… 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.”
Isaac famously joked in 2020 that he would only return to “Star Wars” for money and if “I need another house or something.”
The actor would end up returning to the franchise system with his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series “Moon Knight,” but he often stressed on the press tour that he agreed to the show because it was more about character and less about spectacle.
“Often on these big movies it can feel like you’re building the plane on the runway,” Isaac told Empire magazine. “The idea of getting back to ‘handmade’ films, character studies…I was desperate for that feeling. [‘Moon Knight’] felt handmade. And it’s the first legitimate Marvel character-study since ‘Iron Man.’ I thought, ‘Maybe I can hijack this thing. Maybe this is the chance to do something really fucking nutty on a major stage.’”
“Moon Knight” is now streaming on Disney+. Disney has not announced any plans for Poe Dameron to return to the “Star Wars” universe, but anything’s possible.
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