Oscar Isaac is not doing too badly for himself right now. He was the subject of awards chatter for Inside Llewyn Davis. He’s garnering plenty of kudos for A Most Violent Year. Oh, and he’s in that there Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So he could be forgiven for taking a break... Except he’s landed another high-profile job and will star as the main villain in **X-Men: Apocalypse.
Bryan Singer is back to direct the new film, which will focus on the antagonist introduced (but played by someone else) at the end of X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Now Isaac will be bringing his considerable acting chops to the role, a supremely powerful, ancient mutant who awakens in the 1980s to cause trouble for the likes of James McAvoy’s Professor Xavier, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique.
We’re also promised a mammoth action adventure with plenty of scope for Apocalypse to live up to his name, plus roles for younger versions of characters such as Jean Grey and Scott “Cyclops” Summers.
Singer is gearing to shoot the film starting early next year from a script by** Days Of Future Past **writer/producer Simon Kinberg for a May 19, 2016 release. Isaac’s addition hopefully means Apocalypse will be a suitably compelling baddie and a real challenge for our heroes. A Most Violent Year arrives here on January 23, with Alex Garland’s techno thriller Ex_Machina launching the same day for a double dose of Isaac. Then, as mentioned, there’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will finally touch down on our screens on December 18 next year.