Brooke Bunny
Oscar Isaac is stepping in for Javier Bardem on period drama “A Most Violent Year”.
Jessica Chastain is playing the female lead in the J.C Chandor-directed movie, which tells of a Hispanic man who achieves great success as a businessman in the US.
Bardem dropped out because he had an an issue with the script, Chandor tells THR.
“It was very sad, after eight months of working on the script with Bardem, for that to fall apart,” Chandor said. “We just never could get there.” But, he added, “As I was having these problems with Bardem, the answer was right in front of my eyes.”
Chandor said it was Chastain who was championing Isaac as Bardem’s replacement.
“It’s really neat because Jessica was pushing Oscar because they were classmates at Juilliard,” Chandor added. “And he literally is this character,” the filmmaker said of the actor, who was born in Guatemala to a Guatemalan mother and Cuban father who immigrated to America and raised him in Miami.
What does the film’s title mean? “The film is set in 1981, which, statistically speaking, is one of the most violent years on record,” Chandor explained.
Isaac is currently scoring good notices for his role in ”Inside Llewyn Davis”.
