In May 2016, just five months after first appearing as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars franchise, Oscar Isaac made his superhero movie debut bringing X-Men: Apocalypse’s titular antagonist to life. While it was certainly a big deal at the time to star in one of the X-Men movies, the actor didn’t exactly have the most pleasant experience working on it. I really feel for Isaac after he talked about how “overheated” he got while playing Apocalypse.
Not only is Apocalypse one of the stranger-looking mutants in X-Men lore, he also wears a particularly elaborate costume. That combination did not work in Oscar Isaac’s favor when it came to both comfort and getting to bond with his X-Men: Apocalypse co-stars. As he explained while visiting Hot Ones:
One of the big reasons I did the job, I was like Fassbender? Jennifer Lawrence? McAvoy? All these amazing actors. Yeah! And then I never saw any of them because I was so overheated. And like I couldn’t turn. So, I just got put in this cooling tent. Sometimes someone would come by and be like [patting him on the back], ‘Hey, Oscar.’ I’d be like, ‘Huh?’ And by the time I turned around they were gone already. So it was very challenging, but I am thankful for the cooling tent.
First off, let me say how fitting it is that Oscar Isaac recalled being overheated as he’s eating increasingly intense hot wings. Second, I’m sure that must have been an isolating experience for him. The cooling tent was necessary for him to sit in, but the downside was that he couldn’t really interact with the other actors aside from when they performed scenes together. Just think about how much fun Isaac could have had with Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and the rest if he’d been cast in a different role!
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This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Oscar Isaac’s less-than-ideal time on X-Men: Apocalypse. In 2018, the actor described playing Apocalypse as “excruciating,” because he had no idea when he signed on for the movie that he would be “encased in glue and latex and in a 40-pound suit that I had to wear a cooling mechanism at all times.” Isaac was also not able to turn his head and sit in a “specially designed saddle” when not filming. Then in 2021, Cyclops actor Tye Sheridan said that he “felt so bad” for Isaac because he “just looked uncomfortable all the time.”
Fortunately for Oscar Isaac, he’s been able to leave his stamp on the superhero genre in two other, more comfortable ways by playing Moon Knight in the MCU and voicing Miguel O’Hara in the Spider-Verse movies. While it remains to be seen when we’ll see the former again, you can hear him reprising the latter when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse releases on June 18, 2027. In the much nearer future, see Isaac starring opposite Carey Mulligan in Beef Season 2, which Netflix subscription holders can stream starting on April 6.
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