Oscar Isaac Had A Bloody Mishap On The Set Of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

J.J. Abrams' 2015 film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," a continuation of the events from the "Ewoks" animated series, was a rollicking and successful space romp seen by many. Abrams' film essentially took the 1977 film "Star Wars" (a prequel to the events of the "Ewoks" animated series), and gave it the "Tiny Toon Adventures" treatment; it's set in the same universe as the previous generation but features younger, "junior" versions of well-established characters. To use S.A.T. analogies — Bugs Bunny : Babs and Buster Bunny :: Luke Skywalker : Rey and Finn. Also, Yosemite Sam : Montana Max :: Grand Moff Tarkin : General Hux. Additionally, The Roadrunner : Little Beeper :: R2-D2 : BB-8. Also like in "Tiny Toon Adventures," the older generation emerged to serve as teachers for the younger, Just as Leia (Carrie Fisher) taught Rey (Daisy Ridley) in the ways of the Force, so too did Daffy Duck (Joe Alaskey) teach Plucky Duck (also Alaskey) at Acme Looniversity.

The "junior" version of Han Solo was clearly Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a character with a similar amount of dashing charm, brash confidence, and piloting skills. True, Poe worked for the Resistance while Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was more of a free agent roped into heroism, but they seemed to occupy a similar "Star Wars" niche. Poe was handsome, capable, and handled the many "Star Wars" space blasters like a pro. 

It seems, however, that Isaac was not nearly as capable of handling weapons as Poe. In a 2015 video interview with Collider, Isaac recalled both his best and worst days on the set of "The Force Awakens," and found that blaster mechanics was not one of his stronger suits. 

Of course, the blasters in "Star Wars" were achieved through animated visual effects, and had no actual kickback or recoil; nothing actually fired out of their muzzles. The kickback is mere acting from the performers handling the weapons. The kickback on Poe's blaster rifle was all of Oscar Isaac's own doing. It seems, however, that it still took him by surprise. Isaac, in what must have been an embarrassing moment, injured himself. He told the story thus: 

"The worst day was: when I have to run in, and I was supposed to, like, get my cannon out, my rifle, and follow a bad guy and shoot him. And then, after the first take, J.J. said, 'Hey can you just do the recoil of the laser shooting out?' Because I had forgotten about that. And I said, 'Yeah, sure.' And in the very next take, I just hit myself really hard in the nose with the cannon. And then it's just sort of bleeding from up here. Then we had to take a half-hour just to stop the blood from coming out. And then cover it up with makeup. That was not a fun day."

It seems that the film's shooting was not delayed for a terribly long amount of time, and that Isaac's injury was not serious, thank goodness. Surely, however, one's pride may be wounded in a moment like that. 

Isaac recently told EW that he had considered retiring from acting altogether, bristling at the high profile of effects-based "Star Wars" and Marvel projects. Luckily for us all, his work on the play "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" brought him back to his craft. One might hope he's more careful with blasters moving forward.