‘The Card Counter’ Star Tye Sheridan Talks Working Opposite ‘Superb Actor’ Oscar Isaac (Exclusive)

The Card Counter is a new drama film starring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, and Tiffany Haddish, in which the three play a group of poker and blackjack players who work together through a series of gambling tournaments, while also confronting some deep, dark places in their personal pasts and present. Sheridan recently sat down with PopCulture.com to talk about the movie, and he shared what it was like to work opposite Issac again. “Oscar’s going to just bring it,” Sheridan said, referring to some of their more intense scenes together.

“He’s so focused and he comes to work to do his job,” Sheridan continued. “I think that is very respectable and I think that everybody knows that, and so it brings a level of focused energy that just bleeds into the rest of the crew so everybody’s completely zoned in. That is a fun space to be making films in.” Sheridan previously worked with Issac on 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, wherein Sheridan played Cyclops/Scott Summers and Issac played Marvel supervillain Apocalypse, also known as En Sabah Nur. 

While speaking to PopCulture.com, Sheridan added that he loves working with Isaac because “he’s a super cool guy and superb actor.” He also praised The Card Counter’s writer and director, Paul Schrader, referring to the filmmaker as a “living legend” with “such a substantial body of work.” Schrader has written a number of iconic films, such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and The Last Temptation of Christ. He also has directed a number of his own scripts, including American Gigolo and the 2017 film First Reformed, which earned him an Academy Awards nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Working with Issac again, and Schrader for the first time, was just part of what drew Sheridan to the film. The other part was “the opportunity to explore something I haven’t really played as much” in the past. “Getting to play a character who’s plagued by his past at such a young age and carries so much anger,” Sheridan said referring to his character, Cirk. 

He added, “I think that was really interesting to me in the sense of how young people that are dealing with past trauma move forward and how they deal with that, and whether they’re able to overcome it or not.” In addition to Sheridan, Isaac, and Haddish, the film also stars Willem Dafoe, and was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The Card Counter is now playing in theaters.