Oscar Isaac is about to become the best damn pilot in the galaxy. Not this galaxy. Specifically the galaxy far, far away. The multitalented actor has had a big year between a starring turn in the excellent sci-fi thriller Ex Machina and landing the title role in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, but most people know him as the man who will bring Poe Dameron to life when Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015. Though little is known about the brand-new character, Isaac has mentioned in interviews that Dameron, an X-wing jockey for the Resistance, is in fact “the best damn pilot in the galaxy.” In fact, Isaac also had a hand in crafting Dameron’s history, which has subsequently become canon through the newly rebooted Expanded Universe. That’s not something that just anyone can say, regardless of whether or not they’re a Star Wars cast member.
Recently, I sat down with Isaac at a Los Angeles-based press junket for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to pick his brain about what it was like to bring Poe Dameron to life for the very first time. We also chatted about the surreal experience of piloting X-wings, and whether or not he received any valuable advice from co-stars Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. As it turns out, he needn’t have asked because Harrison Ford’s words of wisdom turned out to be a lie. Find out exactly what the original scruffy-looking nerf herder told Oscar Isaac in our interview above.
Stay tuned next week for all of our interviews with the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
—
Dan Casey is the senior editor of The Nerdist, and the author of books about Avengers and Star Wars. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).
J.J. Abrams on why Ava DuVernay should direct a Star Wars movie:
