Disney has recently invited international and local media to join the Moon Knight’s cast and showrunner to discuss about behind the scenes. Moon Knight is starred by Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy and audiences can watch it on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar (depending on region). So let’s check out what does the cast and showrunner has to say to make this series a must-watch for the MCU fans.
Starting with Oscar Isaac, he mentioned that he was thrilled to do something completely different with Grant Curtis, and Kevin Feige, and Mohamed Diab particularly in the MCU. He also loved how he has to focus on this internal struggle of this character (Marc Spector and Steven Grant), to use Egyptian iconography and the superhero genre and this language to talk about this real internal struggle that this person is having.
Oscar also said, “I think Marvel in particular have done such an amazing job at combining action and comedy in such a great way. And I thought with Steven, there was a chance to do a different type of comedy than we’ve seen of somebody that doesn’t know they’re funny, doesn’t know they’re being funny. And so that was really exciting. And then to find the counterpoint of that with Marc, in some ways leaning into a bit of the stereotype of the tortured, dark vigilante guy, but what makes him so special is that he has this little Englishman living inside of him.”
When asked on how he played character with two guys living inside his own head, Oscar relied on his my brother, Michael Hernandez, to come in and be the other character. While he didn’t anticipate the technicality demand, his brother would assist him to play either Steven or Marc, even do the accent and everything, both accents.
As for Ethan Hawke, who portrays as the show’s antagonist Arthur Harrow, said he was fascinated with the show focusing on mentally ill hero than mentally ill villain because they have inverted the whole process. Ethan also said, “So I have to kind of find a sane lunatic or a sane malevolent force. And that was an interesting riddle for me to figure out how to be in dynamics with what Oscar was doing. And Mohamed was really embracing his mental illness as a way to create an unreliable narrator. And once you’ve broken the prism of reality, everything that the audience is seeing is from a skewed point of view. And that’s really interesting for the villain because am I even being seen as I am?”
May Calamawy who plays Layla El-Faouly, love how strong she is. May also said she was having fun playing the full gamut of a woman with her because she’s strong and she’s for the people and fights for what she believes, but she’s also really vulnerable and scared.
The show’s director and EP, Mohamed Diab, was impressed with how the story portray a normal person discovering that he have another identity that is a superhero. He felt the show has Marvel tone before he came in to helm his position. Mohamed said that he believes that each of the cast has put something, but it pushed it a bit different especially for Oscar. As for Justin Benson, one of the director for the show, he was intrigued with the long history of Moon Knight which is somewhat defined by being bold and being an outsider. He felt there was something attractive about telling a superhero story like that. Aaron Moorhead, also one of the director for the show, believe that Marvel movies are offering great, modern myths right now for storytellers.
Catch “Moon Knight” on 30 March 2022 as it will premier exclusively on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar.