Oscar Isaac to Star in, Produce Brian K. Vaughan Adaptation ‘The Great Machine’ (Exclusive)

Oscar Isaac, currently on screens as hotshot pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, has closed a deal to star in and produce The Great Machine, Legendary’s adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s Eisner Award-winning comic book title, Ex Machina.

Isaac will produce alongside his longtime manager and producer Jason Spire. The two worked together previously to produce MGM’s Operation Finale. Vaughan the prolific creator behind Y: The Last Man, Saga and Paper Girl, is also producing.

Legendary acquired the rights to Machina only recently, with the rights deal falling under its three-year overall film and television pact with Vaughan. Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel, who wrote the recent Kristen Stewart-starring drama Seberg, are set to write the script.

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The comic, which Vaughan made with artist Tony Harris, debuted in 2004, running for 50 issues under DC Comics imprint Wildstorm. It centered on Mitchell Hundred, a former superhero who becomes the mayor of New York City after 9/11. Hundred had the power to talk to mechanical devices but the comic was concerned less about superheroics than issues of government and political leadership.

Isaac will play Hundred.

In a twist of Hollywood fate, Isaac already starred in a sci-fi movie called Ex Machina, only a few years ago. He, along with Alicia Vikander and Domnhall Gleeson had career breakouts with the 2014 thriller that was written and directed by Alex Garland. That fact is what fueled Legendary to change the title of the adaptation to Great Machine, which in the comic is the name of the superhero Hundred was before becoming mayor.

Isaac is next due to star in Paul Schrader’s latest drama, The Card Counter, and will also appear opposite Timothée Chalamet in Dune, Legendary’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert classic being directed by Denis Villeneuve. The Rise of Skywalker, meanwhile, crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.

Isaac is repped by WME, Inspire Entertainment and attorney Mitch Smelkinson.