Oscar Isaac to Find Out What It All Really Means in ‘This Is Us’ Creator’s ‘Life Itself’

The most surprising breakout hit of the new fall TV programming crop would probably be NBC’s This Is Us, an unconventionally structured drama about family, time, and interconnectedness. Stretching across decades, the Dan Fogelman-created show follows the struggles of a couple (Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore) as they cope with the difficulties of parenthood, while at the same time tracking the lives of their children as adults years later. The pilot presented the revelation that part of the show takes place during the ‘80s as a big twist, but has gradually gotten out from under its own narrative hook. On a wide-scale canvas, Fogelman likes to trace grand arcs connecting characters far removed from one another, and he’ll get the chance to do just that with a new reported film project.

Deadline has the exclusive today that Fogelman’s at it again, and this time, his bar-band cover of Magnolia has an even vaguer title. Life Itself will also track a “multigenerational love story” that criss-crosses from the streets of New York to the rolling hills of Spain. (Apparently Fogelman skipped the shattering Roger Ebert documentary from 2014. Either that, or he did see it, and then whispered to himself, “So easily forgotten. So unspecific. The title is perfect… I must make it mine.”)

This sweeping tapestry of life and love needs one catalyst character to set it all in motion, and for the role, Fogelman’s landed none other than people’s champion Oscar Isaac. Little else has been revealed about the film or what Isaac may do in it, but with the actor’s busy schedule, one might assume he’ll share screen time with a larger ensemble, as was the case with Fogelman’s earlier Crazy Stupid Love and his current This Is Us. Either way, hopefully Life Itself will contain all the trenchant observations about loss, parental bonds, and the absolute sanctity of stage acting as This Is Us.