Oscar Isaac Filmed ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and ‘Annihilation’ At the Same Time

It seems like Oscar Isaac can do it all. He can be a hero or villain, in big blockbusters or intimate indies. He can even sing and play guitar. Now it seems like he can also be in two places at once.

While promoting the upcoming sci-fi flick Annihilation, Isaac and director Alex Garland spoke with /Film where the Poe Dameron actor revealed he filmed for that movie and Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the same time.

“It was literally the same studio,” said Isaac. “So some days I would walk from – I think I still used my trailer from Star Wars… I would shoot something in the morning and then have a little bit of down time and then switch it up. So that was wild.”

Garland also added that he would sometimes find Isaac on his lunch breaks and get him to film scenes with urgency, and that Isaac would visit the set still dressed as Poe.

“It was pretty wild. It reminded me a little of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, when he’s on the lot and you see all the different actors walking around. There was something very classic about it,” Isaac said. “So there was very little time, and not a lot of rehearsal time, and Natalie [Portman] and I didn’t know each other.”

Despite both actors being Star Wars alumni, their paths had yet to cross until filming Annihilation.

“It happens in movies, obviously – you have to suddenly be very intimate with someone very quickly. I think the fact that she was willing to trust me and I was trusting her, and we just went in there and did it and tried to find a real intimacy. Which is always a weird, awkward, strange thing to do suddenly in front of a bunch of people,” Isaac said. “But we found that, and I really enjoyed those scenes with her. She is very focused, but also in those scenes, very emotionally available as well, so I really enjoyed that.”

Garland chimed in to thank the filmmakers of Star Wars for “sharing” Isaac’s availability as they did.

“It makes me want to name-check Rian [Johnson] and Ram [Bergman], the producer on Star Wars. I think because they come from an indie film background, here they are making like the biggest movie of all time, and they were unbelievably helpful and accommodating to us,” Garland said. “And they really didn’t have to be at all. Most big productions would not even dream of doing that. And they went out of their way – whilst making f**king Star Wars, for Christ’s sake – to help this really small movie next door. It was very cool and I’m truly grateful for it, actually.”

Annihilation premieres in theaters on February 23rd.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is rumored to be hitting Digital HD next month.