“That was a funny one”: the Oscar-winning role Oscar Isaac turned down
Oscar Isaac has long appeared in some pretty memorable roles, whether singing in Inside Llewyn Davis, creating android women in Ex Machina, or playing a part in the Resistance in the Star Wars universe, and yet, he once turned down a role that went on to win an Oscar.
The actor, who was born in Guatemala before moving to America, has never been nominated for an Academy Award, but things could’ve looked very different for the star if he’d just stopped doubting the potential success of a role he was offered.
To be fair, you never really know if a movie is going to be successful or not, and you have to take a slight gamble if you want to get anywhere in Hollywood; in this instance, Isaac decided to play it safe, and instead, it was Rami Malek who found the glory instead.
Of course, I’m talking about the role of Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which saw Malek play the Queen frontman to Oscar-winning acclaim, beating the likes of Christian Bale and Willem Dafoe to the ‘Best Actor’ prize, which many found to be one of the least-deserving wins in Oscars history, as a lot of critics saw his performance as caricature-like, and it’s hard to deny that Bohemian Rhapsody was anything other than Oscar bait.
That’s the thing with biopics, they will always divide opinion because they bring a beloved real-life figure to the big screen, playing with the audience’s hearts and often misconstruing events in favour of dramatic Hollywood drama. They’re usually pretty predictable, and in many circumstances, biopics have come across as pretty offensive; you only have to look at the Amy Winehouse film Back to Black to see the genre at its worst.
Isaac was initially confused when he was offered the part of Mercury, telling Good Morning America, “At the time I was like, ‘I don’t think anybody wants to see somebody pretend to be Freddie Mercury’”. It’s a good point that many people have used in the argument against biopics: what’s the point when documentaries and interviews already exist?
He soon realised that he was in the minority, as a Queen biopic was very in demand. “And then, sure enough, everybody wanted to see someone do Freddie Mercury,” he said, “So that was one that came by.” Still, Isaac isn’t sure he had what it would take to morph into the beloved singer, admitting, “I think I could never have done what Rami Malek did”.
Issac certainly has the acting chops to take on a role as challenging as Mercury, but if he was doubting his abilities this much, then it was probably for the best that he turned it down. “Obviously, everyone thought so, he was great. But that was a funny one, where it was just my thinking was so like, ‘You could just watch him on YouTube. Why would anybody want to watch somebody pretend to do him’, you know?”
So, he might have missed out on the Oscar, but it’s OK, as his performance as the fictionalised folk singer in Inside Llewyn Davis already stands as the actor’s sublime music biopic-esque contribution, and that film is way better than Bohemian Rhapsody.
