Let’s get away from the heat wave for a moment and rewind 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.
Rising star Oscar Isaac, whom we’d heard had been one of Tony Gilroy’s preferred choices for the lead for months (alongside Joel Edgerton), ended up as the compromise once the filmmaker and studio could not agree on casting him at the center of the franchise. After Renner got the nod for the top job, Isaac was brought aboard in a substantial supporting role as the anonymously named, brainwashed assassin Number 3.
It’s another big career move for Isaac, who has already worked with Steven Soderbergh (“Che”), Ridley Scott (“Robin Hood,” “Body Of Lies”), Zack Snyder (“Sucker Punch”), Catherine Hardwicke (“The Nativity Story”), Nicolas Winding Refn (“Drive”), and Alejandro Amenábar (“Agora”). That’s not to mention that he’s got Madonna’s sophomore effort “W.E.,” and the ensemble drama “Ten Year” around the corner. Isaac has worked with strong talent thus far, and “The Bourne Legacy” is his first real step into a tentpole film (or at least one that will be successful, sorry “Sucker Punch”).
He joins Renner, his “Agora” co-star Rachel Weisz, and, most recently, Edward Norton in the film, which finds the new operative (Renner) battling a covert government program that is even deadlier than Operation Treadstone. Filming will begin soon, and the film will hit theaters in August 2012. – Additional reporting by Rodrigo Perez.
