Oscar Isaac will be reprising the role of Rebel Alliance pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: Episode VIII, but he nearly didn’t make it. His character was set to die in The Force Awakens until an offhand comment to J.J. Abrams saved his character. Now, in a long interview with Rolling Stone, Isaac shared a little about Star Wars which hints at Poe Dameron’s future and gives another reason for Disney to keep him around, besides his Star Wars cosplay skills and his sweet dance moves.
Isaac says he’ll be “Star War-ring until 2020,” meaning Poe is going to be around for awhile. But, Isaac reveals, it won’t be easy for this character he’s previously described as “almost recklessly” committed to The Resistance.
“In the new film, there’s a lot more to do,” Isaac says. “What happens now is the heroes get tested. All three of them” — Poe, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn — “get tested immensely.” And how’s BB-8 doing? “BB-8’s doing all right. BB-8 gets tested too! Everybody gets tested! It’s the dark second chapter, but not really dark.” (Via)
John Boyega has also described Episode VIII as “much darker,” while Isaac has previously described the film as intimate and going new places. And we already know a bit about how Rey will be tested, thanks to set witnesses who described a pivotal scene.
The Rolling Stone interview also reveals perhaps the best reason for not killing off Poe. It turns out, having Oscar Isaac around to improvise funny lines on the spot can definitely help keep the tone of your movie fun.
All of the funny lines — including one about Poe being unable to hear Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren through his helmet, and the “who talks first” exchange — were added in reshoots, and Isaac improvised some of them. He’s always pushing to complicate and deepen Poe, who started as little more than a charming archetype. “We’re making sh*t up as we go,” he says.
It’s too bad they didn’t use all the lines he improvised while renaming John Boyega’s character, which totally happened and we didn’t just make up as we go.
Star Wars: Episode VIII: We’re Making Sh*t Up As We Go opens December 15, 2017.
(Via Rolling Stone)
