Oscar Isaac

Oscar Isaac seems big on period films these days. He’s got the upcoming The Promise, which is set during the Armenian Genocide during the late 1910s, X-Men: Apocalypse, which takes place during the 1980s, and the new trilogy of Star Wars movies which, as we all know, occur a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. His latest project will see him traveling to the 1940s to hunt down Adolf Eichmann in World War II drama Operation Finale.

Imagine that both handsome, rakish doctor Oscar Isaac and well-to-do bearded reporter Christian Bale are fighting for your hand in marriage. With two such dashing suitors fawning over you, it’d take something huge to spoil it, something like... a genocide. The new trailer for historical romance drama The Promise has all that and more, featuring a tortured courtship with nothing less than the epic sweep of militaristic annihilation for a backdrop. That, and Oscar Isaac’s handsome, permanently-stubbled face. In the parlance of Hollywood executives, that makes this a ‘four quadrant’ picture.

With Carrie Fisher’s death came an overwhelming amount of tributes and love from her friends and co-stars. A ton of celebrities took to social media to share their grief and funny anecdotes with the rest of us, including many who had known her in a galaxy far, far away. Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron in the new Star Wars trilogy, shared a photo of Fisher and Mark Hamill on his Facebook page.

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.

TIFF is the unofficial kickoff for awards season, and we’ve already seen some very promising trailers this week. None more promising, however, than The Promise, which sees Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale go up against the Ottoman Empire-instigated Armenian genocide in the 1910s. An Oscar for Oscar might not be too far off.

With few exceptions, Oscar Isaac has been enjoying a steady run of great roles over the last few years, working with directors like the Coen Brothers, J.J. Abrams and Alex Garland — all of whom quickly helped to transform the actor into one of our most beloved stars. Things are only getting better from here, as Isaac’s next project could see him teaming up with anther great director.

Our first real look at Oscar Isaac’s titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse wasn’t particularly great, to say the least. Featuring a purple-toned En Sabah Nur, that early official photo inspired a flood of jokes on social media, with people comparing him to everything from a Power Rangers villain to Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Apocalypse has thankfully looked a lot less colorful in the trailers released since then, and with the X-Men sequel hitting theaters next week, Isaac and director Bryan Singer have a few thoughts about their villain’s aesthetic.

When Nightcrawler broke into the White House at the start of 2003’s X2, it felt like more than a watershed moment in the history of comic book movies; it felt like a miracle. Here was one of comics’ most fantastical characters — a blue-skinned, three-fingered German demon with a pointy, prehensile tail and teleportation powers — brought to life with all of his outlandish quirks and powers intact, showcased in a sequence that was thrilling and utterly convincing. It was something no one had ever seen before. It was truly uncanny.

Much can change between a movie’s initial trailer and the finished film (like that Anakin Skywalker reference in The Force Awakens). Visual FX will be finalized, scenes may be cut in the editing process to improve the narrative flow, additional footage might be incorporated, and additional dialogue may be recorded. That last one is particularly relevant for X-Men: Apocalypse, as you may have noticed that the titular villain’s voice changed quite a bit between the first trailer and the more recent sneak peeks.

This is definitely the coolest piece of marketing for X-Men: Apocalypse, and whoever came up with it over at Fox most certainly deserves a raise. Inspired by the classic In Search Of docuseries hosted by Leonard Nimoy, this promo for a fictional series titled In the Footsteps Of… briefly explores the origins of Oscar Isaac’s X-Men villain. But the best part is definitely the choice to have Nimoy’s former Star Trek co-star George Takei serve as narrator.