Oscar Isaac on the cover of GQ Style. Well, between this and Lupita and MBJ, the universe is taking a dump on my productivity. In the spirit of sharing then, let me take a dump on your productivity.
This is a good read. Oscar isn’t…skittish… the way some of these celebrity profiles have read lately. In fact, he’s quite giving here, opening up because he’s naturally curious. He’s the one, it seems, who initiates a conversation about marriage, asking about the writer’s marriage and inviting a question about his own. As he explains, he and Elvira Lind got married last March, and it was confluence of life-changing events that led to the decision.
“Tons of reasons. She's Danish—she's not a citizen, and she was very pregnant, and there was an element of figuring out “Well, where are we going to be?” And us wanting to be a family unit a bit more. Also, the Danes, they don't really believe in marriage. I think it has a lot to do with the equality of the sexes over there. Marriage doesn't mean anything financially, because the state takes care of people. So the marriage itself becomes less important. But, you know, at the time, right before it happened, my mom was ill, and so I saw her carrying my child, bathing my sick mom—seeing her do that, I just thought: I want to be with this person forever and ever. And I just wanted to take that extra step as well. And so my mom passed in February and we got married in March and our son was born in April.”
It’s been a year now since he lost his mother. I doubt it’s gotten any easier. At the same time, as we’re reminded of several times during this interview, it’s been one of the best years of his career, if not the best year of his career and probably his life, considering the birth of his son. For those who’ve been in a similar situation, the takeaway from that kind of experience is perspective. And there’s a lot of perspective in this conversation – perspective about how long he’s been in the business and why and when he finally broke through, perspective about the kind of work he wants to do and what kind of actor he wants to be, and perspective about keeping one’s perspective in the business. Note what he says here about LA:
“Well, theater was always super important. I always knew I wanted to do theater in New York. So L.A. wouldn't have been an option because of that. I like L.A. But I don't like myself in L.A.
I just feel anxious when I'm there. And I just get annoyed with myself more. It's not L.A., it's me. There are definitely a lot of tempting things about it. It's like the ring in Lord of the Rings—you put it on and you're like, “Whaooo, no!”
I nodded enthusiastically reading that part. Maybe it’s my anti-LA bias. And friends of mine who live in LA tell me all that time that not all of LA is so LA. But this is why I appreciate Oscar’s perspective. It’s not LA, per se. It’s what he’s like in LA. Not all of them are willing to admit that. Without, um, you know, talking about how “edgy” and “arty” New York is in comparison.
As for the cover photo – I think they’re trying to tell me he’s an angel here. OK but I already knew that. I don’t love it, the way they’ve shot the angle of his face. The photos throughout the piece are way better. Click here to see.
