Moon Knight’s first episode premiered on Disney+ on March 30. Yet, the series remains shrouded in mystery, and we are ready for more
Marvel remains famously tight-lipped about their projects and plots. Couple that with the fact that Moon Knight doesn’t have the A-List name recognition of many of his MCU comrades, and factor in that first episode of the six-part series is more about setting the scene than driving the plot forward. We meet museum employee Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac). He isn’t just a mild-mannered Londoner with a strong knowledge of Egyptian artifacts who takes excellent care of his pet fish. Steven has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and one of his identities is Marc Spector, a mercenary who is particularly good at violently eliminating his adversaries. We are also introduced to Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow, the charismatic leader of a religious cult searching for a scarab that has mysteriously come into Grant’s possession.
In the final moments of episode one, we see Spector, who has taken over as the dominant identity, dressed in the full Moon Knight costume, ready to fight and seemingly on a collision course with Harrow.
So, where do we go from here? Co-directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson have teased that episode 4 comes with a “big swing.” Beyond that, much remains unknown. During a press conference with EW.com’s Devan Coggan to promote the show, cast members Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, and May Calamawy joined directors Mohamed Diab, Benson & Moorhead, and executive producer Grant Curtis to discuss their experience making Moon Knight.
Here are a few of the best tidbits we learned.
Oscar Isaac hired his brother, Michael Hernandez to help him tackle the dual role.
Isaac adopted a new accent and altered his physicality to play Marc Spector and Steven Grant. For scenes where Steven and Marc interact, Isaac brought in his brother, actor Michael Hernandez, to act as a sparring partner.
“The first step was to hire my brother to come in and be the other me. That’s the closest thing to me there is on Earth,” Isaac said. “So he came in, and he would play either Steven or Marc, even do the accent and everything, both accents. That was really helpful to have someone that’s not only a great actor but also shares my DNA to play off of.
Something that I didn’t anticipate was how technically demanding that was going to be, having to show up and decide which character I was going to play first. And then try to block that out, give my brother notes, then do the scene, then switch characters, and then figure it out. And still having to try to find what makes it feel spontaneous and not all planned out. That was challenging.”
May Calamawy asked for a scene with Ethan Hawke.
“I love how strong she is,” Calamawy says of her character Layla. “But at the same time, I felt like I got to play 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. So that was fun for me.”
During the press conference, Hawke praised his costar for fighting to fully flesh out her character.
“She had to fight for Layla all the time, and she did. My favorite thing about watching it was watching you ask questions, keep pushing, keep pushing, keep trying to make her a three-dimensional person. And it was challenging because it’s a male-driven story.”
For Calamawy being new to the industry and big-budget projects meant that it “took [her] a second to trust [her] opinion.” Still, the collaborative energy on set and support on set led her to become more confident and throw out her own ideas.
“I messaged Ethan and I was like, ‘I really think we need a scene together.’ And then Ethan came and had this whole scene idea that now I’m like thank God I reached out to [him].”
Ethan Hawke joined Moon Knight without reading the script first.
“Usually when there’s a huge budget, there’s a tremendous amount of fear. And the people in charge are incredibly controlling, and creativity is reduced,” Hawke says. “In my entire experience with Marvel, it’s the opposite of that. You guys have translated your success into confidence.”
That creative confidence and the opportunity to work with Diab led the Academy Award nominee to sign on to his first Marvel project. For Hawke, his trust in Diab’s vision also meant trusting that the show would portray Egyptian culture respectfully.
“The way [Diab] would think about approaching scenes was a unique point of view and that was more valuable to us as performers than something we could learn in a textbook,” Hawke says. “I felt so safe with Mohamed. I knew that it was incredibly important to him to not just respect it and honor it but to revere it and to be playful. And he was just our leader in that way, and we felt very safe with him there because of that.”
The connection between actor and director was immediate, so much so that Diab convinced Hawke to sign on to Moon Knight without reading the script, the first time he’s done that in 35 years.
“You guys were willing to collaborate, and that’s what you guys told me would happen, but sometimes what people tell you and how it — and that’s why you don’t sign on without reading a script. But I’m really glad I did it because I think it’s better because of the way it evolved,” Hawke said.
Honoring Egyptian culture was at the forefront of production.
“I come from a background that is very independent, small films, usually from the Middle East,” says Diab. “I remember the first call between me and Oscar, and he told me, ‘Mohamed, what the hell are you doing here?’ Why am I here? And I remember telling him something about making intimate stories not exclusive to budget. And I think Marvel was onto something.”
The other aspect of Moon Knight that was attractive to Diab was a chance to show genuine Egyptian representation.
“As an Egyptian, we always see ourselves depicted, or the Middle East depicted, in a way that is – we call it orientalism when you see us as exotic and dehumanized. Not just showing us as a human, just normal human beings. Though Layla’s character, we see Egypt as Egypt because 90 percent of the time, Egypt is not Egypt. Imagine Paris, and you’re seeing Big Ben in the background. That’s how we see our country. So it’s funny, but it hurts,” Diab said.
In addition to hundreds of actors on set, many of the producers and craftspeople involved with Moon Knight were Middle Eastern or Egyptian as well, including composer Hesham Nazih who scored all six episodes of the series and Editor Ahmed Hafez. Their work can be seen in episodes 3 and 4.
“The talent that came around after Mohamed joined brought so much authenticity in the storytelling, it’s immeasurable,” says Curtis. “One thing I’m excited about for people to start reading the credits. Because it’s breathtaking when you see the names associated with this project, and a lot of those names came on because of the cast and because of Mohamed.”
Moon Knight’s themes left a lasting impression on the cast and crew.
Moon Knight juggles unsuspecting humor and a superhero story within a larger, darker framework of a man struggling with mental health and past trauma. These contrasting elements are handled with deft and the show strikes the right balance, making a viewing experience truly unique within the MCU. Ultimately, Diab hopes the audience comes away from Moon Knight relating to the charecters’ quest for self-actualization.
“Each of us, [our] persona is the mask that we’re putting on. I’m right now putting a mask to hide my desires, to hide everything — the other real character in me,” Diab said. “What I learned from Marc and Steven is I need to be the same. I need to be one person. And I think this is the struggle that all of us through the journey of living are trying to achieve.”
For his part, Isaac found comfort in finding harmony as well.
“That that in itself is its own superpower to be able to live through abuse or trauma and survive it and then come to terms with that, as opposed to push it all away. And to see that journey happen, I think that’s a really powerful thing.”
Moon Knight streams exclusively on Disney+.
