By Staff (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 08, 2015 05:03 AM EDT

"Inside Llewyn Davis" actor Oscar Isaac admitted in an interview with Esquire magazine that he has done his homework in preparing for his upcoming movies "Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens" and "X-Men: Apocalypse."

Esquire posed the question, "Coming up you're doing two movies that are totally fantastical, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and X-Men: Apocalypse. You're playing the title character in the latter, a blue villain previously seen in Days of Future Past moving pyramid bricks with his hands. How do you begin to research that?"

To which the actor responded with, "You find something that makes it interesting for you. With X-Men, it's about why this woman who invented Apocalypse, [writer] Louise Simonson, she was tasked with: make a new arch-villain. She said, 'OK, I'll make the embodiment of the Second Coming with the Four Horseman and all.' That's scary shit. So I'm curious about that. What's the philosophical expression behind the apocalypse? What apocalypse means, which comes from the Greek for 'to reveal'. To lift back the curtain."

Screen Rant said the storyline of "X-Men: Apocalypse" is expected to be set in the 1980s, following the "traditions" of the previous movies "X-Men: First Class" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" which were set in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively. "X-Men: Apocalypse" is set to hit theaters in May next year.

The movie's cast list includes James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Sophie Turner, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, and Tye Sheridan.

As for the new "Star Wars" movie, Oscar Isaac told Esquire, "It's its own culture, yeah. I try to go with the dumbest most literal thing first. 'Apocalypse-what's the name apocalypse?' With Star Wars I was like, 'War! It's a war.' So I read about being a pilot in a war. What was that like?...So you go back. All sci-fi is about being a human being. All of it is. If it's made by humans, it's about being human. So I try to take it back to the original need for the expression. Where could that have come from? You trace it back."

"Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens" will be out in theaters this December 18. It is directed by J.J. Abrams. The cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis, Gwendoline Christie, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong'o, Crystal Clarke, and Pip Andersen.