Oscar Isaac Talks About Getting Behind the X-Wing for 'Star Wars VII'

We talked to the actor about 'The Force Awakens.'

Image via Disney

Getting details about Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens is almost as difficult as getting a Kardashian to talk about Bruce Jenner's reported sex change (without making up a quote). So every time a nugget of information comes out we can't help but get excited.

We caught up with Oscar Isaac, and in between talking about his movie Ex Machina (in theaters today), he dropped a little info about preparing for his role in Episode VII as X-wing pilot Poe Dameron. Check out the excerpt from our interview below, where Isaac discusses flight simulations and the unexpected book he read for research.


Looking ahead to the big projects you have coming up, what research and development have you done to play X-wing pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the supervillian Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse? Any NASA training?

I did some actually. I can’t talk too much, but I did some fight simulation. Clearly I’m in an X-wing. I actually did read a lot about war. That was something that was interesting to me, particularly the ecstasy of war. I read a book called What It’s Like to Go to War. It was straightforward but it was interesting. It was about the spiritual aspects of war, and being a warrior, and how, really, that’s not something that’s taught, the sacred space that soldiers are thrown into. I know it’s heavy stuff for Star Wars, but still, you try to find something to ground you to go inside. So that was something that I looked at.


What was your experience like doing flight simulation?

It’s like a video game.


Was the simulator just a box that you get inside?

Yeah. The whole thing was very simple. It doesn’t move around. It was just getting the sense of basic controls and there’s a couple screens. It’s a little bit boring actually.


So your stomach wasn’t in your throat?

No, it wasn’t high-end, that kinda stuff. And the truth is, it’s also space. So it’s not the same as flying in Earth’s atmosphere.

The full interview drops tomorrow morning, so stay tuned...

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