Oscar Isaac knows a thing or two about big franchises. While the actor is known for his acclaimed character roles, he also found mainstream success as Poe Dameron in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy and played the titular villain in “X-Men: Apocalypse.” Given his serious box office chops, some were surprised when it was announced that Isaac would be joining Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe in a television role rather than a film one.
Isaac recently wrapped “Moon Knight,” a Disney+ series that finds him playing the mercenary superhero who receives the powers of an Egyptian god alongside Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy. The six-episode limited series is set to debut at the end of next month. But if you ask Oscar Isaac the actor has zero objections to the character living on Disney+. As Hollywood scrambles to refine new business models that combine box office returns with streaming numbers to determine success, Isaac is relieved to be removed from that pressure and focus on his art.
In a recent chat with Jared Leto as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Isaac said he enjoyed the creative freedom that came with making a lower profile project. “There was a lot of room to try stuff because there wasn’t the pressure that we got to make sure we make however many hundreds of millions of dollars on the opening weekend,” he said. “So we could make it very point-of-view. We could make very weird decisions. At the moment, at least — and I don’t imagine it’s going to go backwards — it feels like that’s where more of the risk is being taken because it can, financially.”
Isaac is no stranger to television either, having starred in “Show Me a Hero” and the recent “Scenes From a Marriage” remake for HBO. He continued to express his enthusiasm for his new Marvel character, saying that even as a comic-collecting child he had never heard of Moon Knight and was excited to discover a new superhero that he loves. It looks like the show’s experimental style will provide a creative sandbox for an actor who has nothing left to prove at the box office.
“Moon Knight” begins streaming on Disney+ on March 30.
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