Oscar Isaac and Ben Foster: The New Pacino/De Niro, or Julia/Woods?

It has to be said that with all these various new acting talents coming to our attentions these days, it’s rather hard to define who has or hasn’t ‘broken out’. In the broadest sense ‘breaking out’ is defined by an actor/actress assimilating him or herself into the mainstream; not necessarily becoming a household name, but at the very least being a consistent leading man/lady, a standout character actor, or a combination of the two. By that definition I would most certainly say Oscar Isaac has ‘broken out’. He’s played crucial roles in both a Star Wars film (with the role of Poe Dameron only set to expand even more) and an X-Men film. He’s provided strong supporting turns in the likes of Drive and especially the surprise awards and box office hit Ex Machina, and done some extremely impressive leading man work in A Most Violent Year, Inside Llewyn Davis and the television miniseries Show Me a Hero. I guess the easiest way to explain why Isaac is such a success and joy to watch onscreen is down to his incredibly talent, but I want to delve further into his onscreen persona and find out what makes it so compelling. In particular, how he’s kind of a modern day amalgamation of acting greats Al Pacino, and the late, great Raul Julia.

It’s in A Most Violent Year where I see hints of Pacino most prominently. It’s in the latter film in particular where the comparisons have been derived by critics, likening Isaac’s screen presence to Pacino in The Godfather films with his way of quietly but powerfully, holding the camera’s focus, and fixating our attentions on him. There’s a very understated approach he takes to Abel Morales, beset by misfortune and forced to do the ‘most right thing’ in a less than savoury manner. Isaac rarely raises his voice or resorts to histrionics (something that's far beneath his talents as X Men: Apocalypse showed), but instead delivers a powerfully quiet performance that incisively cuts into the character's determination to succeed in a world of deceit and corruption, but still retains a great deal of genuine charisma and most importantly, a conscience, which is what predominately differentiates his arc from that of Pacino's Michael Corleone. 

There's hints of Raul Julia to his onscreen presence too. Isaac is a chameleonic actor but not in a Gary Oldman/Tom Hardy sort of way (http://actorvsactor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/why-tom-hardy-is-modern-day-combination.html) but in a Raul Julia sort of way. Julia, like Isaac, never really changes his accent or voice, or even any sort of physical makeoever, but somehow manages to impress upon viewers this seamless, naturalistic quality of disappearing in one role to another, on sometimes opposite sides of the spectrum. 

I will say Julia still trumps Isaac greatly in one regard in that Isaac simply does not know how to ham it up properly as a diabolical villain. Isaac's Apocalypse was menacing enough but lacked any sort of distinctive flair or inspired touch to his VILLAINY. Raul Julia showed in Street Fighter that no matter how shit the film was going to turn out, he was still going to give his all and most importantly, knew exactly how to go about doing so, giving a hammy, beautifully inspired turn as M. Bison. It's so sad to know this was his final feature film performance, and seeing him give his all for the sake of his children (who begged him to take on the role) is just beautifully sad and admirable. 

This aside, though, there's a lot to be said for the similarities between Isaac and Julia. They not only look somewhat alike but I could see them swapping roles retroactively in so many of their defining performances. I could easily imagine Isaac playing Julia's role of a tortured revolutionary cynic turned romantic in Kiss of the Spider Woman (where he'd utilize the cynical vibe of Llewyn Davis in addition to the desperation of his character in Drive to craft a beautifully nuanced tragic performance), Gomez in The Addams Family (his wonderfully, darkly comic performance in Ex Machina played to more lighthearted and likable effect), or as Óscar Romero the defiant priest in the titular biopic. He just has this knack for playing around with so many different human natures and it's a darn shame that Julia hasn't lived on to work with Isaac. I could also easily see Julia in many of Isaac's roles. Don't know if he could sing but I would've loved to see him as Llewyn Davis, and especially as Nathan in Ex Machina, perhaps opposite William Hurt as Caleb, and Sean Young as Ava, in a 1980's version of the film directed by Ridley Scott. Wicked. 

As for the second actor I'm getting to, Ben Foster, who unlike Isaac has yet to really break out and remains criminally underrated and in some circles, unknown: I used to think he was the second coming of Robert de Niro, a thought that started from me viewing his supporting performances in Lone Survivor, 3:10 to Yuma and his lead performance in The Program. In 3:10 to Yuma in particular, his performance as the psychopathic Charlie Prince reminded me of De Niro's work in Mean Streets as Johnnie Boy in the best possible way. Like De Niro, Foster has a knack for making supreme intensity both truly entertaining and even amusing, while also being completely terrifying in the unpredictability of his character's madness. The pseudo-grandeur Foster brings beautifully to Charlie Prince's elevated self prerogative reminded me so much of the pseudo-flair De Niro gave to the criminal lifestyle in Scorcese's underrated masterpiece. In Lone Survivor the underplayed determination and bravery he instills into the role of a soldier, as well as his quiet and unassuming work in 'Aint Them Bodies Saints in the same year as a kindly sheriff, turn potentially paper thin roles into great performance because of how much power Foster instills into these characters through his emotive eyes, his undeniable screen presence. 

In The Program, the preparation he gave to the role (he took steroids to prepare to play Lance Armstrong) reminded me strongly of the physical preparation Bobby De Niro took to play Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Here's where the distinctions stop though, and here's where I have to say I kind of stop viewing Foster as the second coming of de Niro. The Program is no Raging Bull. Raging Bull is directed by arguably one of the top 5 directors of all-time, Martin Scorcese, and it's a beautifully filmed, well scripted cinematic event. The Program is poorly directed by Stephen Frears, atrociously scripted at certain points and besides the solid performances of Chris O'Dowd and Jesse Plemons, all of Foster's co-stars range from bland and forgettable to downright dreadful. Now if there's anything I can say against the great talent of De Niro is that when a film's quality goes down, so does his performances generally (see: most of his 21st Century work). It's not that his talent goes away it's that his commitment does so. 

Now this isn't the case with Foster. I'm sure he was well aware that the film was taking a downwards spiral in terms of quality but he retains so much of his usual talent, presence and commitment to the role of Lance Armstrong, I'm considering bumping him up into my top 5 for Lead Actor 2015. It's also telling that Foster is often the best part of any film that features him, even mediocre ones like The Punisher, Alpha Dog, Kill Your Darlings. In this regard he reminds me a great deal of another great and also highly underrated actor: James Woods. Like Woods, Foster likes taking a fast-talking, energetic approach to infuse films with entertainment, and as supporting roles often act as 'scene-stealers' (in particular I'd have loved to see Woods play a 1980's version of Charlie Prince, or play William S. Burroughs like Foster did, or have Foster play a modern-day version of Woods' characters in Videodrome or Salvador). Like Woods, Foster refuses to phone it in regardless of the quality of the film he's doing: even when (and it frequently does, Woods has starred in many a terrible film) the film's direction and writing lets him down, he makes up for it with an invested, 100% committed and viscreally impressive performance. Like Isaac and Julia, they completely deserve to be praised in terms of talent along the likes of De Niro and Pacino.