Oscar Isaac covers the new issue of Details, in advance of his new movie Ex Machina, and oh my god, LOOK AT HIS MAGNIFICENT HAIR. Why have I never noticed this before? Perhaps it’s the length, and/or the fact that it isn’t shellacked to his head. Seems like in movies his hair is usually short, or slicked back, but now it’s long and flowy and beautiful. It’s like a raven’s wing. I want to write poems about it. (Lainey: STEP OFF my #1, Sarah. You can keep Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Evans.)
Isaac is poised to have a huge year. He kicks off with the thrillery Ex Machina, then he’s got an artsy-fartsy movie, Mojave, with Mark Wahlberg that’ll run on the festival circuit, and at the end of the year he will star in Star Wars Episode VII. His character has a name—Poe Dameron—and Details is paying lip service to the rumor that Poe is Han Solo’s son, but all I really care about is getting a new Star Wars trailer, one that hopefully includes Isaac with his helmet off so I can judge his hair situation in the movie.
The article focuses on Isaac’s position On The Cusp, as Star Wars and a role as the titular villain in next summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse are set to launch him in a big way. They tout him as an actor in the Pacino/Hoffman mold—an opinion backed up by his Julliard classmate, Jessica Chastain—a character actor who can also be a leading man. That’s a solid assessment, but we’re not minting Movie Stars anymore. The thing that strikes me about Isaac, and has done ever since he pinged on the radar, is his versatility. He can carry a project, he can be a supporting player, he can do noble, he can do scuzzy, he can do contemporary, he can do period. It’s so freaking hard to launch a star these days, and just starring in a popular movie isn’t enough to get the job done—just ask Chris Hemsworth. Isaac’s got the on-screen swagger, and he has that fabulous head of hair, but is that enough to put him over the top? He’s certainly going to get a fair shot at it. It’ll be interesting to see if the mainstream bites.
