The Coen Brothers’ new film, Inside Llewyn Davis, opens in select cities this weekend. Oscar Isaac stars as the title character, a folk singer in the ‘60s who never quite made it, and pines for a woman (Carey Mulligan) who is taken. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Joel and Ethan Coen. Isaac himself is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and we’ll surely hear about more nominations as the season continues. We got to speak with Isaac by phone after the film played at AFI Fest here in Los Angeles, and we’ll have more interviews with the cast when the film goes wide later in December.
CraveOnline: I, of course, have been following your career and I know a lot of your work, but how great is it to land the lead in a Coen Brothers movie?
Oscar Isaac: Oh, so, so great. It was literally a dream come true. They’re definitely my favorite filmmakers ever since I saw Raising Arizona when I was 10 and it blew my little kid mind.
Was it an audition or an offer? How did it work?
No, no, they didn’t know who the heck I was. It was an audition process. They were looking at musicians first and foremost because music is such an integral part of the movie and they wanted to shoot it like a concert film. At the same time, it was a very complex and nuanced character, so I think they realized that they did need to start with an actor that could play as opposed to the other way around.
So then they opened it up for a few other people and I was able to get an audition for the casting director and she sent a tape to the Coens and they thought it was worth bringing me in. In between the auditions I learned more of the songs of the time and Dave Van Ronk’s repertoire in particular, and won the part.
Thank you for saying “integral.” I hear so many people say “intrical” which is not a word.
Intrical? [Laughs]
At what point did it turn that they were going to consider actors? Were you basically auditioning against musicians for a time?
Yes. I walked into that first audition just for the casting director and I’d seen a photograph that they had on the wall. At that point I thought they were just looking for people that look like Dave Van Ronk who was 6’4”, 300 lbs, Swedish and that’s very much not my look. Then I saw a photograph of a musician that I admire, a well known one with dark hair and a beard and I said, “Oh wow, you’re using that as a reference?” They said, “Oh no, he just came in. He killed it.” That basically put me on the backfoot because these are great, great people, but the fact that they were in the middle and needed both, it lined up really well for me because of the length of time I’ve been playing and also the amount of time I’ve devoted to learning the craft of acting. It was just all there in my favor.
Was part of the thing with Llewyn that he can’t be too good a singer, because then why isn’t he making it?
Well, if that was the idea it was beyond me because I was trying to sing as good as I could. No, in fact it was the opposite to be perfectly honest. He needed to be a great singer. He needed to be a great musician. He needed to be someone who could be the next big thing but luck and his own self-destructive tendencies, that’s what’s standing in his way. It’s not that he isn’t good enough.
In that meeting at the end, do you think that’s just bad luck?
Yeah, that’s the thing though. It’s not that this is supposed to be the objective view of his talent. There’s no such thing in these kinds of businesses. It’s completely up to the arbitrary opinion of the gatekeepers. That’s the case for most artists that are trying to make a viable living doing what they do. That’s just an example. It’d be crazy to say just because an artist is not successful that means he’s not talented. I don’t think anybody really believes that, but sometimes it feels that way.
