Oscar Isaac appeared on the latest episode of “Hot Ones” and was asked about “X-Men: Apocalypse,” the 2016 comic book tentpole in which he played the eponymous villain under a 40-pound costume and various makeup prosthetics. Isaac previously called the role “excruciating.” It turns out the actor signed on to star in the “X-Men” movie because he wanted to act with the A-list ensemble, which included Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, but his costume prevented him from doing so.
“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,” Isaac said. “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.”
Isaac called the “X-Men: Apocalypse” production “excruciating” in a 2018 interview with GQ magazine, explaining: “I didn’t know when I said yes that that was what was going to be happening. That I was going to be encased in glue, latex, and a 40-pound suit — that I had to wear a cooling mechanism at all times. I couldn’t move my head, ever.”
“I had to sit on a specially designed saddle, because that’s the only thing I could really sit on, and I would be rolled into a cooling tent in-between takes,” the actor added. “And so I just wouldn’t ever talk to anybody, and I was just gonna be sitting and I couldn’t really move, and like, sweating inside the mask and the helmet. And then getting it off was the worst part, because they just had to kind of scrape it off for hours and hours.”
Despite the arduous production, Isaac has never spoken poorly about the movie itself. He told The New York Times in 2022 that “I don’t disown it” when asked about the middling reviews it received.
“I know exactly what I went in there wanting to do and the reasons why,” Isaac said. “There were these amazing actors involved that I really wanted to work with. I collected X-Men growing up, and I loved Apocalypse, I just found him such a freaky, weird character. And then you get there and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got all these prosthetics on. I’ve got a suit on. I can’t move. I can’t see anybody. I still think back to that time with fondness. I wish it would have been a better film and that they would have taken care of the character a little better, but those are the risks.”
Watch Isaac’s full interview on “Hot Ones” in the video below.
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