The HBO drama Scenes From A Marriage is a penetrating and insightful look at the nuances, paradoxes and complexities of human relationships. But it is also a slowly-paced and (mostly) one-location exercise of a type that can often elude mainstream audiences. Luckily it features something up its sleeve, or perhaps a different article of clothing, that guaranteed to get the conversation going. It does, indeed, feature Oscar Isaac in his birthday suit, much to the surprise and delight of social media.
When Isaac and co-star Jessica Chastain appeared on The View on Friday, it was to the hosts’s credit that they waited a full three minutes and forty-five seconds before bringing the matter up. The conversation began with an analysis of the series’s themes, with Joy Behar self-deprecatingly calling fans of the show “nosybodies”—an undeniable aspect that creator Hagai Levi admits has always been a part of his work. But after some back-and-forth with Chastain about her process, her 20-year-friendship with Isaac, and the importance of changing some of the gender roles from the Ingmar Bergman original, Sunny Hostin went in.
“There was a full-frontal nude scene, everyone” Hostin said, stone-faced, as if she were a prosecutor before a judge. “I’m so sorry,” Isaac retorted.
“I’m feeling objectified right now—she gets the deep questions?” the actor then joked. “What the hell’s goin’ on here?!”
He then explained that he is shown sensitive footage for approval, but that he “saw it on a laptop, quite dark, and I didn’t notice what was happening down there.” Only afterwards did he realize what was captured, when it was “clear as day on the big TV there, it’s there for everyone to see.”
Isaac, who earlier joked how “theater kids are always naked,” didn’t seem too upset about it.
But Chastain chimed in with more of a backstory. “I said to Hagai [Levi] who wrote and directed the series, in the very beginning, I said, ‘I’m comfortable with all the nudity but any part of my body that you show, you’re going to have to show the same with Oscar.’”
The five episode HBO series debuted at a marathon screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and featured one of the all-time great red carpet arrivals.
You can watch the full clip from The View below (and see how Oscar Isaac reacts to Joy Behar’s term “Mr. Happy”), and read more with our interview with Hagai Levi.
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