The Playlist

Oscar Isaac Scores The Lead In The Coen Brothers Folk Music Movie 'Inside Llewyn Davis’

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 14, 2011 2:00 AM
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2 Comments

If you've been paying attention, you probably already know that Oscar Isaac is poised to be a major star. The actor has already logged time with folks like Steven Soderbergh ("Che"), Ridley Scott ("Body Of Lies," "Robin Hood") and Alejandro Amenábar ("Agora") but 2011 is proving to be banner year. Of course, we don't need to tell you that even in his small role in "Drive" his presence impressed, and he even managed to come out smelling like roses as one of the few pleasures in the otherwise dreadful "Sucker Punch." And later this year, he'll be seen in Madonna's awards season baiter "W.E." Tony Gilroy wanted him to take the lead role in "The Bourne Legacy," but when that went to Jeremy Renner, he found the actor a meaty co-starring role instead. But now, Isaac is lining up what may just be the biggest role of his career.

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TIFF '11 Review: 'Ten Year' Brings Together A Strong Cast For A Mixed Bag Of Comedy & Drama

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 13, 2011 1:00 AM
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3 Comments

Births, funerals, marriage, anniversaries and even annual vacations have all served as plot devices in the reunion film, a genre that usually finds middle-aged or older characters dealing with a crisis that is exacerbated by seeing old family and friends. And while "Ten Year" certainly isn't breaking new territory, producer and star Channing Tatum, along with writer/director Jamie Linden ("Dear John"), do take an interesting approach. Wisely not going far beyond their own age bracket, this film brings together a pretty solid ensemble cast of some of the best up-and-coming actors working right now for a tale that catches up with a gaggle of friends for a reunion -- you guessed it -- ten years after their graduation from high school. Taking on a bunch of characters as they leave their twenties is definitely a smart concept but instead of offering what could have been an honest look at contemporary soon-to-be thirtysomethings and the challenges, fears and triumphs they have endured, "Ten Year" delivers a mixed bag of CW plots that at worst are cliché and predictable, with a very few that do stand out.

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Oscar Isaac, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig Will Be 'Revenge For Jolly!'

By Edward Davis
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September 7, 2011 5:53 AM
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0 Comments

Actors Oscar Isaac, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, David Rasche, Kevin Corrigan, Garret Dillahunt, Bobby Moynihan, and Gillian Jacobs are all part of the recently wrapped “Revenge For Jolly!” directed by short filmmaker Chadd Harbold and starring Brian Petsos. How does a project with this many big names go unannounced and under the radar? Well, it's a indie and the the debut film of Atlas Independent, the newly-formed affiliate company of Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainmenta company that focuses on development and production of films budgeted under $10 million (Roven known by fans as one of the producers of Christopher Nolan's Batman series).

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Empire Big Screen '11 Review: Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive' Reminds Us Why We Love The Movies

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 16, 2011 4:02 AM
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7 Comments

Good god, it's been a bad year at the cinema. It's not so much that there've been a lot of awful films, although of course there have. It's more that there have been a lot of deeply average ones, and very little greatness to share around. Even the better end of the scale, it's not quite scratched the right itch for us: as good as, say, "Beginners" or "Win Win" or "Midnight in Paris" are, they don't quite get the synapses firing in the way that truly great cinema does. It's the kind of thing that the crime flick has always done well -- there's a reason that the Cahiers du Cinema crowd worshiped early American genre pictures, for example, but there's been little to be excited about even in that department. So it's lucky that Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" has come along: it's a shot of pure cinema straight to the eyeball, and one that's stopped us from losing the faith just as we were about to start looking for gigs at What Yacht Magazine.

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Oscar Isaac Joins 'The Bourne Legacy'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 22, 2011 3:26 AM
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1 Comment

Let's get away from the heat wave for a moment and rewind the clock back to the cooler temperatures of February. Back then, writer/director Tony Gilroy was beginning to look at actors for the lead role of "The Bourne Legacy" and basically every young, eligible male was in contention with Joel Edgerton, Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac, Michael Fassbender, Luke Evans, Alex Pettyfer, Benjamin Walker, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch and Kellan Lutz all in the mix. Well, as you know, the part eventually landed with Jeremy Renner but in a rare stroke of Hollywood good fortune, one of those contenders has been asked back.

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Cannes Review: Nicolas Winding Refn's Low-Slung '80s Crime Drama 'Drive' Has A Dark Majesty

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 19, 2011 12:22 PM
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14 Comments

Why is "Drive" -- a seemingly trivial affair about a stuntman and part-time getaway driver, played by Ryan Gosling, pulled into deep and bloody waters on the neon-and-streetlight lit streets of L.A. -- even at Cannes, let alone in competition? It's not merely because of the bloody-but-brilliant background of director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose films (the "Pusher" trilogy, "Bronson," "Valhalla Rising") have demonstrated both an eye for composition and a taste for the jugular. It's not merely because of the film's cinematic roots, with the production seemingly crafted as a clear tribute to '80s-era Michael Mann and other synthesizer-and-faux-leather action-crime stories. Rather, you can make a case that "Drive" is here because action cinema and genre cinema are too important -- and too exciting, enthralling and, yes, artful when well made -- to be merely dismissed as suitable only for hacks to make and dolts to watch. French enthusiasm for American crime cinema from the '40s and '50s gave us the vocabulary and value set to truly appreciate film noir -- and anyone who can truly appreciate film noir will appreciate "Drive."

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Oscar Isaac To Romance Maggie Gyllenhaal As 'Sexy, Ukulele-Playing Teacher' In 'Still I Rise'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 18, 2011 4:00 AM
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3 Comments

We're Pretty Sure 'Sexy, Ukulele-Playing Teacher' Is An OxymoronOscar Isaac is definitely about to have a moment. The 31-year-old Guatemalan-born actor has made a striking impression in the last few years in projects like "The Nativity Story," "Che" and "Body of Lies," before really grabbing people's attention last year as the sole highlight of Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood." Since then, he gave the only tolerable performance in "Sucker Punch," and landed key roles in "Drive" and "W.E." as well as allegedly being director Tony Gilroy's favorite of the contenders to star in "The Bourne Legacy," before Jeremy Renner took the role.

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Watch: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan & Bryan Cranston In New Clip From Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2011 6:30 AM
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12 Comments

Plus A Ton Of New Images From The FilmWe're only a few days for the Cannes premiere of Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive," easily one of our most anticipated films of the year, and we can barely contain ourselves: in fact, we've built a cardboard car in the center of The Playlist office and are currently sitting in it with a full-sized body pillow of Oscar Isaac. Fortunately, a healthier way of passing the time before the film arrives at the festival on Thursday has arrived, with Rope of Silicon debuting a new two-minute clip from the film.

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Nicolas Winding Refn Says REO Speedwagon Helped Him & Ryan Gosling Seal The 'Drive' Deal

By Edward Davis
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May 15, 2011 4:30 AM
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0 Comments

While Nicolas Winding Refn's "noir thriller Drive" threatens to be one of the most talked about films of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, especially considering its A-list cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks and "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston to name a few, the film has not screened so far, nor has the cast assembled to talk about it yet.

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Is Jeremy Renner Going To Get A Call From His Agent For 'The Bourne Legacy'?

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 1, 2011 11:08 AM
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10 Comments

There's no doubt that the Universal Bourne series spinoff "The Bourne Legacy" has been one of the biggest casting tickets in town. Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Kellan Lutz, Joel Edgerton, Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac, Michael Fassbender, Luke Evans, Alex Pettyfer and Benjamin Walker have all been tossed around as potential actors to take on the next chapter in the franchise, but it appears one name has risen to the top that hasn't been mentioned yet.

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