Actor Oscar Isaac went from making films as a kid to starring in “Star Wars.”

Actor says he’s always loved music and dance

GROWING up in Miami, Oscar Isaac was the kind of kid who got into a little trouble. Nothing serious, but he was expelled from religious school, which didn’t please his Cuban father. “I was going to have to go to a school where they didn’t allow music or dancing,” the actor destined for Julliard said. “I thought my world was over.” Fate intervened, or maybe the force of show biz was with him. “You couldn’t make this stuff up,” Isaac said. “A hurricane blew down that school, my family moved to Del Ray Beach and I went to an inner-city school that embraced music and dance. The moral of the story is that even when things don’t go well, you can still have the best year of your life.”

Or several great years. Isaac, 39, plays Poe Dameron in the current “Star Wars” films including the upcoming “Episode IX,” which is in production. He also stars in “Operation Finale,” out this weekend, in which Isaac plays a real-life Mossad agent who in 1960 was tasked with capturing Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) and bringing him to Israel to face trial.

He will also play Paul Gauguin in the upcoming “At Eternity’s Gate” with Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh.

Review-Journal: What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Oscar Isaac: If I’m home in New York, it’s anything. I might sleep late and walk around the city or just sneak into a great film. There’s always good food to be found. I love anything that has to do with listening to live music. That’s the most relaxing thing of all for me.

Tell us about your new film “Operation Finale,” which you star in and produced.

It’s a fascinating, thrilling, exciting, psychologically complex story that’s very relevant. The setup is that Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust, has been found living in Argentina. A call comes into the Mossad that it’s him, so a group is assembled to go there, verify his identity and then kidnap him. The government of Argentina can’t know until my character is in Israel with Eichmann and he is locked up and waiting to stand trial for his crimes against humanity.

You play the reallife Israeli intelligent agent Peter Malkin, who captured Eichmann.

He has to actually grab the guy and bring him back. He must deal with this monster and talk to him. It’s the hardest job of all … how to relate to someone who has done such horrible things.

You grew up acting, singing and playing in your own band.

I was born in Guatemala, but our family left when

I was a baby. We moved to Baltimore and then Louisiana, finally settling in Florida. I always loved playing music and making my own movies. It was never a plan to have a career in it. My dad just had this video camera and he used to play music around the house. I’d make movies. In those days, I made some great karate movies starring yours truly and my friends. We didn’t have YouTube, so we just made the movies for ourselves. I finally left Miami to study at Julliard in New York. That’s when it all became real.

How does a kid making karate films in his basement get into Julliard?

I was in New York to do a play and passed by Julliard one day, so I went in and got an application. It was due that Friday. I took the form home and filled it out over the weekend. Then I went back and begged the lady to post-date it for me. She did. I got an audition and moved to New York.

You’ve said that you don’t want to play stereotypical characters.

I’ve been offered my fair share of gangsters, thugs and villains, even the cool ones. I’ve said no to a lot of them because it just wasn’t interesting to me, plus I don’t want to perpetuate stereotypes. I’d rather look for unusual characters.

Like your role in “Ex Machina.”

A great low-budget indie; I love intense thrillers like that one that ask the big questions, such as how do we create an artificial brain.

What kind of thrill is it to star in “Star Wars” films?

It’s been fantastic. I get to add a little color to this huge canvas. It’s also been a thrilling experience to be a part of something this big where fans wait, wishing so hard for the next movie to be released. You realize the magnitude of it. The thing is when you’re actually filming the movie, you have to reduce it, so it’s just a movie. My job is to create a truthful and compelling character in Poe. I have to connect the dots of his life.

Do you have a favorite memory of working with the late Carrie Fisher?

There was such a tenderness to Carrie even during this scene where she was slapping me again and again. We did multiple takes of that scene. It was surreal to be standing (there) being slapped by Princess Leia. My friends were so jealous.

How do you sum up the past few years?

Crazy. Incredible. Hard to imagine. Very blessed. And humbled.

‘ There was such a tenderness to Carrie even during this scene where she was slapping me again and again. We did multiple takes of that scene. It was surreal to be standing (there) being slapped by Princess Leia. ’ OSCAR ISAAC

Joel Ryan The Associated Press