Sunday, November 04, 2007
Oscar Isaac, "PU-239" actor: The Mr. Media Interview, Part 1
Oscar Isaac, my guest today, co-stars with Paddy Considine in a riveting new HBO film, PU-239.
Based upon a short story by Ken Kalfus, PU-239 tells the story of a devoted father and husband -- Paddy Considine -- in post- Soviet Russia who labors in a deteriorating nuclear plant. After being exposed to a deadly dose of radiation while trying to avert a plant disaster, he is made a scapegoat and suspended without pay.
With just days to live and desperate to provide for his wife and young son, he impulsively steals a small amount of PU-239 -- weapons grade plutonium -- and heads to Moscow to attempt a quick sale.
In Moscow, Considine’s character gets caught up with an inept, wannabe gangster -- played by Isaac -- to help him sell the dangerous goods on the black market.
BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: I appreciate your time. I gave kind of a brief synopsis of the film, but the name of the film won’t mean a lot to the average person any more than it did for your character, actually. What would you like people to know about this movie?
OSCAR ISAAC: I think there are so many elements that make it such a unique film. I think it’s very unlike any film I’ve really seen in some while. The closest I can think of it is films from the 1970s that weren’t afraid to kind of experiment with tone and genre and all that, so it is a very sad, tragic film about this man that’s trying to help his family, but then at the same time, there’s this very humorous side to it when he meets this criminal and this unlikely bond, kind of buddy thing, happens with the two of them. I think it’s very exciting. It’s kind of Jacovian in that way, a lot of humor and, at the same time, the tragedy is involved just in the same intensity.
ANDELMAN: You mentioned 1970s movies, and I hadn’t thought about it until you just said that, but, of course, The China Syndrome, there’s a little bit of that here with the…
ISAAC: Right, right, exactly.
ANDELMAN: What drew you to this movie? Was it the drama? Was it the politics, the buddy….
Oscar: Honestly, it was the script, the way it was written, and the character. It’s just fantastic. I mean, I think it’s just really full of life and humor. Both the director, Scott Burns, and myself, one of our favorite movies, at least for me, my favorite movie of all time was Dog Day Afternoon. It reminded me of it in that kind of way, where you have this guy who’s way in over his head, but he’s just trying to make it work, and you end up feeling sympathy for him even though he’s kind of a screw-up. I like that a lot about him.
ANDELMAN: There are actually two guys in this movie that are way in over their heads.
ISAAC: Exactly. And you know, that’s also a great point that these two different characters really are mirrors of each other in different extremes. Paddy Considine’s character is way in over his head by deciding to go into the black market. He’s a scientist and suddenly he’s forced to do this wheel and deal, something he just doesn’t know how to do, but he’s trying to save his family. And on the other side of it, you’ve got my character, who is also trying to save his family -- whatever his definition of family is, his girlfriend that’s a prostitute and his son that he’s not sure if it’s his -- but even that, he’s trying, he’s working in this new, crazy, anything goes Wild West of capitalism in the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Union, and now he’s just trying to do what he can, and I think that’s ultimately what’s really great is that these two guys are trying to fight for their families.
ANDELMAN: I think when I was done watching it, the thing that struck me was -- and I’d like to go read the short story, frankly -- it’s so well-conceived, and the comparison and the contrast between the two characters, you’ve got the two men, family as each of them defines it. Paddy’s got the wife and son. We don’t know them until the incident occurs at the nuclear plant, but they seem to be happy and in love and all that kind of thing. And then Shiv, your character, defines family a whole different way.
ISAAC: That’s exactly right.
ANDELMAN: When the two of you come together, it’s kind of like oil and water, but somehow, as it does in buddy movies, it does sort of work.
Oscar: I think again, it’s this need. You don’t really hear it from Shiv until the very end where he doesn’t know how else to keep Timofey, which is Paddy’s character, in the car, and he says, “Look, I’m doing this for my child, too. This whole time you’ve been talking about your child and your family and what you need, but I’m not doing this for fun or to be cool, I’m doing this because I have a family, as well.” That’s a very strong motivator.
ANDELMAN: It’s very interesting. I’m listening to your voice, and truly, and people will get this when they see the movie, there is some strong acting going on in that film, because you don’t sound anything right now, anything like the character of Shiv.
ISAAC: No, right. Yeah. I gave a little higher register voice, and he, of course, we did it all with accents It was a tough decision: how you are going to give it an authentic feel. Either everybody does British accents, or … It was an international cast, as well. There were British people, there were French, people from all sorts of different places.
ANDELMAN: Your character has some interesting thoughts on the British and the Americans, of course.
ISAAC: Yes, he does. Very specific feelings as they concern his girlfriend. He gives her rules of who she can sleep with based on his own sociopolitical ideas of people.
ANDELMAN: Some of the best moments in the movie are the small ones. Again, it’s about you with the boy who you think is your son or you and Paddy in the car kind of connecting again through children, but you each kind of know that your life is in dire jeopardy. As an actor, that’s good stuff, isn’t it?
ISAAC: For me, that is one of my favorite moments, wow, that one moment when they’re both in the car and he just asks if you have any pictures of your son. My son, he loves to go to all the new McDonalds and try the Big Macs and see if they all taste the same. And there’s just a little moment where nothing seems to be happening, but kind of everything is there, everything is revealed about these guys with just a little bit. I think that’s really a testament to the writing. Scott Burns just has a way of creating an intense amount of empathy with humor and with putting humor and tragic elements together in one sentence even, and it ends up being something very human and specific, and I think that was really one of the great things about the film.
ANDELMAN: You have some moments in the film that are fairly brutal, mostly with you on the receiving end. Are those difficult to play?
ISAAC: It can be, because pain, usually as an actor you’re looking for the action of, what are you doing, what are you trying to do, what are you trying to change, and it’s hard to act a state of being, like cold or hurt, and so that can be challenging in its own way. But again, those are also fun, because they are very physical, and you get to put the makeup and the blood on. Those are fun. The harder ones seem to be the more emotional scenes.
ANDELMAN: What was your relationship with Paddy like during this? There’s a point where you have to threaten him rather physically. How did you two deal with that, set that up?
ISAAC: It’s funny, because I remember the first day, I think he was very surprised at my take on the character. I think a lot of people were, because the script itself, like I said, it’s fantastic, but a lot of times an actor will kind of imagine some things. Talking with Scott, we made them very specific and funny, and I think he wasn’t expecting that, so suddenly, I think he was kind of quiet a lot and a little bit dark and unsure in that place, and then with all that humor, he kind of really lightened up. After a while, we were just cracking each other up. I remember once in particular we just couldn’t get through it, and there wasn’t even anything that funny. We just couldn’t get through it. He would always laugh, and that would start to make me laugh, or I would start to laugh, and you can’t help it. It’s actually a horrible feeling, and the producers had to come over and were like, “Guys, you really need to pull it together.” I’m like, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but it’s just so funny.” It was great. He’s a wacky man. He’s an amazing actor, and it was great to hear his stories and to feed off of him. He’s a wonderful actor, and for me, it was my first film, and to be able to spar with him on screen was amazing.
ANDELMAN: You mention that, this movie looks like it could be a significant launching pad for you. Sometimes you’re sympathetic, the reluctant gangster, sometimes violent. Are you excited to get this out in front of people?
ISAAC: Yeah. It’s been almost two years since we shot it, and I am very anxious to get it out there. Then again, it’s done, and there’s not much I can do. I have no control over it or how people are going to take it. I really do hope that they enjoy the film, because I do think the movie is really good, and like I said, it’s unlike a lot of films nowadays. I’m actually curious to see how people take this kind of mixture of tones. A lot of times, films can be very straight forward: “This is a sad movie.” “This is a funny movie.” Scott really tries to make a full picture of life.
Click Here to Keep Reading!
©2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.
Oscar Isaac, my guest today, co-stars with Paddy Considine in a riveting new HBO film, PU-239.
Based upon a short story by Ken Kalfus, PU-239 tells the story of a devoted father and husband -- Paddy Considine -- in post- Soviet Russia who labors in a deteriorating nuclear plant. After being exposed to a deadly dose of radiation while trying to avert a plant disaster, he is made a scapegoat and suspended without pay.
With just days to live and desperate to provide for his wife and young son, he impulsively steals a small amount of PU-239 -- weapons grade plutonium -- and heads to Moscow to attempt a quick sale.
In Moscow, Considine’s character gets caught up with an inept, wannabe gangster -- played by Isaac -- to help him sell the dangerous goods on the black market.
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BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: I appreciate your time. I gave kind of a brief synopsis of the film, but the name of the film won’t mean a lot to the average person any more than it did for your character, actually. What would you like people to know about this movie?
OSCAR ISAAC: I think there are so many elements that make it such a unique film. I think it’s very unlike any film I’ve really seen in some while. The closest I can think of it is films from the 1970s that weren’t afraid to kind of experiment with tone and genre and all that, so it is a very sad, tragic film about this man that’s trying to help his family, but then at the same time, there’s this very humorous side to it when he meets this criminal and this unlikely bond, kind of buddy thing, happens with the two of them. I think it’s very exciting. It’s kind of Jacovian in that way, a lot of humor and, at the same time, the tragedy is involved just in the same intensity.
ANDELMAN: You mentioned 1970s movies, and I hadn’t thought about it until you just said that, but, of course, The China Syndrome, there’s a little bit of that here with the…
ISAAC: Right, right, exactly.
ANDELMAN: What drew you to this movie? Was it the drama? Was it the politics, the buddy….
Oscar: Honestly, it was the script, the way it was written, and the character. It’s just fantastic. I mean, I think it’s just really full of life and humor. Both the director, Scott Burns, and myself, one of our favorite movies, at least for me, my favorite movie of all time was Dog Day Afternoon. It reminded me of it in that kind of way, where you have this guy who’s way in over his head, but he’s just trying to make it work, and you end up feeling sympathy for him even though he’s kind of a screw-up. I like that a lot about him.
ANDELMAN: There are actually two guys in this movie that are way in over their heads.
ISAAC: Exactly. And you know, that’s also a great point that these two different characters really are mirrors of each other in different extremes. Paddy Considine’s character is way in over his head by deciding to go into the black market. He’s a scientist and suddenly he’s forced to do this wheel and deal, something he just doesn’t know how to do, but he’s trying to save his family. And on the other side of it, you’ve got my character, who is also trying to save his family -- whatever his definition of family is, his girlfriend that’s a prostitute and his son that he’s not sure if it’s his -- but even that, he’s trying, he’s working in this new, crazy, anything goes Wild West of capitalism in the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Union, and now he’s just trying to do what he can, and I think that’s ultimately what’s really great is that these two guys are trying to fight for their families.
ANDELMAN: I think when I was done watching it, the thing that struck me was -- and I’d like to go read the short story, frankly -- it’s so well-conceived, and the comparison and the contrast between the two characters, you’ve got the two men, family as each of them defines it. Paddy’s got the wife and son. We don’t know them until the incident occurs at the nuclear plant, but they seem to be happy and in love and all that kind of thing. And then Shiv, your character, defines family a whole different way.
ISAAC: That’s exactly right.
ANDELMAN: When the two of you come together, it’s kind of like oil and water, but somehow, as it does in buddy movies, it does sort of work.
Oscar: I think again, it’s this need. You don’t really hear it from Shiv until the very end where he doesn’t know how else to keep Timofey, which is Paddy’s character, in the car, and he says, “Look, I’m doing this for my child, too. This whole time you’ve been talking about your child and your family and what you need, but I’m not doing this for fun or to be cool, I’m doing this because I have a family, as well.” That’s a very strong motivator.
ANDELMAN: It’s very interesting. I’m listening to your voice, and truly, and people will get this when they see the movie, there is some strong acting going on in that film, because you don’t sound anything right now, anything like the character of Shiv.
ISAAC: No, right. Yeah. I gave a little higher register voice, and he, of course, we did it all with accents It was a tough decision: how you are going to give it an authentic feel. Either everybody does British accents, or … It was an international cast, as well. There were British people, there were French, people from all sorts of different places.
ANDELMAN: Your character has some interesting thoughts on the British and the Americans, of course.
ISAAC: Yes, he does. Very specific feelings as they concern his girlfriend. He gives her rules of who she can sleep with based on his own sociopolitical ideas of people.
ANDELMAN: Some of the best moments in the movie are the small ones. Again, it’s about you with the boy who you think is your son or you and Paddy in the car kind of connecting again through children, but you each kind of know that your life is in dire jeopardy. As an actor, that’s good stuff, isn’t it?
ISAAC: For me, that is one of my favorite moments, wow, that one moment when they’re both in the car and he just asks if you have any pictures of your son. My son, he loves to go to all the new McDonalds and try the Big Macs and see if they all taste the same. And there’s just a little moment where nothing seems to be happening, but kind of everything is there, everything is revealed about these guys with just a little bit. I think that’s really a testament to the writing. Scott Burns just has a way of creating an intense amount of empathy with humor and with putting humor and tragic elements together in one sentence even, and it ends up being something very human and specific, and I think that was really one of the great things about the film.
ANDELMAN: You have some moments in the film that are fairly brutal, mostly with you on the receiving end. Are those difficult to play?
ISAAC: It can be, because pain, usually as an actor you’re looking for the action of, what are you doing, what are you trying to do, what are you trying to change, and it’s hard to act a state of being, like cold or hurt, and so that can be challenging in its own way. But again, those are also fun, because they are very physical, and you get to put the makeup and the blood on. Those are fun. The harder ones seem to be the more emotional scenes.
ANDELMAN: What was your relationship with Paddy like during this? There’s a point where you have to threaten him rather physically. How did you two deal with that, set that up?
ISAAC: It’s funny, because I remember the first day, I think he was very surprised at my take on the character. I think a lot of people were, because the script itself, like I said, it’s fantastic, but a lot of times an actor will kind of imagine some things. Talking with Scott, we made them very specific and funny, and I think he wasn’t expecting that, so suddenly, I think he was kind of quiet a lot and a little bit dark and unsure in that place, and then with all that humor, he kind of really lightened up. After a while, we were just cracking each other up. I remember once in particular we just couldn’t get through it, and there wasn’t even anything that funny. We just couldn’t get through it. He would always laugh, and that would start to make me laugh, or I would start to laugh, and you can’t help it. It’s actually a horrible feeling, and the producers had to come over and were like, “Guys, you really need to pull it together.” I’m like, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but it’s just so funny.” It was great. He’s a wacky man. He’s an amazing actor, and it was great to hear his stories and to feed off of him. He’s a wonderful actor, and for me, it was my first film, and to be able to spar with him on screen was amazing.
ANDELMAN: You mention that, this movie looks like it could be a significant launching pad for you. Sometimes you’re sympathetic, the reluctant gangster, sometimes violent. Are you excited to get this out in front of people?
ISAAC: Yeah. It’s been almost two years since we shot it, and I am very anxious to get it out there. Then again, it’s done, and there’s not much I can do. I have no control over it or how people are going to take it. I really do hope that they enjoy the film, because I do think the movie is really good, and like I said, it’s unlike a lot of films nowadays. I’m actually curious to see how people take this kind of mixture of tones. A lot of times, films can be very straight forward: “This is a sad movie.” “This is a funny movie.” Scott really tries to make a full picture of life.
Click Here to Keep Reading!
©2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.
Labels: George Cooney, HBO Films, Ken Kalfus, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar Isaac, Paddy Considine, Peter Berg, PU-239, Radha Mitchell, Steven Soderburgh, weapons grade plutonium
¶ 8:21 PM
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