In the Marvel Studios seriesMoon Knight, mild-mannered gift shop employee Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) realizes that his recent bouts confusion are actually due to the fact that he has dissociative identity disorder (DID) and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector (also Isaac). They are very different men with very different lives, who are learning how to coexist while fighting off their enemies and figuring out how the powerful gods of Egypt play into it all.
During this press conference to discuss the new entry into the MCU, co-stars Isaac andEthan Hawke(who plays antagonist Arthur Harrow), as well asMohamed Diab(director of Episodes 1, 3, 5 and 6) and Marvel Studios executive producerGrant Curtis, talked about why they wanted to bring the character of Moon Knight into the MCU, the story’s unique exploration of point of view, developing a sane lunatic for an antagonist, the importance of portraying Egypt in an authentic way, who Isaac was playing off of in the scenes where he’s having conversations with himself, approaching the blended tone, designing the look and feel of the suit, and what they hope audiences take from the series.
Question: Grant, when did Marvel start thinking about bringing Moon Knight into the MCU and what most intrigued you about this character, creatively?
GRANT CURTIS: Moon Knight, in particular, has been on Kevin Feige’s radar from day one. When you look at his history, he first appeared inWerewolf by Nightin 1975, and then he bounced around the Marvel Universe for the next five years, and he got his own offering in 1980. When you look at years and decades of storytelling, as the great storytellers and artists on theMoon Knightpages have been doing, I think this was a natural progression and merger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This was the perfect time. When you look at Disney+ and needing a broader canvas to tell this incredible story, March 30th, the audience will see it and this was the perfect time to drop into the universe.
Oscar, you’re no stranger to big projects, likeStar WarsandDune. What was different about joining the MCU withMoon Knight?
OSCAR ISAAC: When I looked at it and I talked with Grant [Curtis], Kevin [Feige] and Mohamed [Diab], it just seemed like there was a real opportunity to do something completely different, particularly in the MCU, and to really focus on this internal struggle of this character and to use Egyptian iconography and the superhero genre and this language to talk about this real internal struggle that this person is having. Also, we could create an indelible, unusual character, particularly with Steven Grant. Once I got a real take on how I wanted to play Steven and I brought that to everyone, and they welcomed that with open arms, I also realized I had real incredible collaborators and it was gonna be a creative adventure.
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What is it that makes Marc Spector and Steven Grant so different from some of the heroes we may have seen in the past?
ISAAC: I think the story is so point of view. You’re in the skin of this guy and you’re seeing things happen and you’re experiencing it, just as he’s experiencing it. There’s something terrifying about that. I think with Steven, in particular, there’s a sense of humor in there that’s different from what we’ve seen. Marvel, in particular, has done such an amazing job at combining action and comedy in such a great way. I thought with Steven, there was a chance to do different comedy than we’ve seen. He’s someone that doesn’t know he’s being funny. That was really exciting. And then, we got 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 Englishman living inside of him.
Ethan, you play charismatic antagonist Arthur Harrow. What hooked you and made you want to get involved with this?
ETHAN HAWKE: The history of movies is paved with storytellers using mental illness as a building block for the villain. There are countless stories of mentally ill villains, but we have a mentally ill hero, and that’s fascinating because we’ve now inverted the whole process. As the antagonist, I can’t be crazy because the hero is crazy, so I have to find a sane lunatic, or a sane malevolent force. That was an interesting riddle for me, to figure out how to be in dynamics with what Oscar was doing. Mohamed was really embracing his mental illness as a way to create an unreliable narrator. Once you’ve broken the prism of reality, you realize that everything the audience is seeing is from a skewed point of view, and that’s really interesting for the villain. That was our riddle. We came up with somebody who was trying to save the world and who, in his mind, is Saint Harrow. He thinks he’s gonna be part of the great solution.
Mohamed, when you first got involved in this project, what was it that made you most excited about it? What was it about the story that initially hooked you?
MOHAMED DIAB: I come from a background of very independent, small films, usually from the Middle East. I remember the first call between me and Oscar, he said, “Mohamed, what the hell are you doing here?” It’s about making intimate stories, not exclusive to budget. Marvel was onto something. I’ve had other offers before to make big-budget movies, but I never connected to anything like this. It’s an intimate story that has some big stuff happening around them. Just imagine that line where you’re a normal person who discovers you have another identity that’s a superhero. I was drawn to that right away. I never want to forget [writer] Jeremy Slater for creating such a great concept for how to tackle the story. The other aspect that really attracted me was the Egyptian part of it, the present and the past and the Egyptology of it. As an Egyptian, we always see Egypt or the Middle East depicted in a way that we call Orientalism, when you see us as exotic and dehumanized. Just showing us normal human beings, through Layla’s character, and seeing Egypt as Egypt, 90% of the time, Egypt is not Egypt. Imagine Paris, and you see Big Ben in the background. That’s how we see our country. It’s funny, but it hurts. So, that’s really what attracted me. I’m so lucky.
Oscar, you have a lot of scenes where Steven Grant is having conversations with Marc Spector. How did you approach those scenes?
ISAAC: The first thing was that we hired my brother, Michael Hernández, to come in and be the other me. It’s the closest thing to me there is on Earth. He came in, and he would play other Steven or Marc. He even did the accent and everything. That was really helpful, to have someone who’s not only a great actor, but who shares my DNA, to play off of. Something I didn’t anticipate was how technically demanding that was gonna be, having to show up and decide which character I was gonna play first, and then try to block that out, give my brother notes, do the scene, and then switch characters. One of the fun things about acting, if not the most fun thing, is acting opposite somebody and letting something spontaneous happen that you didn’t expect. There wasn’t really an opportunity to do that and still try to find what makes it feel spontaneous and not all planned out. That was challenging.
How did you find the accent for Steven?
ISAAC: I don’t know. It was set in London and when I asked why, the answer was that, “We just have too many characters in New York,” so they made him an ex-pat in London. I love English humor, likeThe OfficeandStath Lets Flats. There’s just so much of that humor that I find so funny, and I thought, “There’s an opportunity here. What if we make him English? What if Peter Sellers was approached with a Marvel project? What would he do?” So, I started thinking about that, and that led me to Karl Pilkington fromAn Idiot Abroad, not so much for the accent, but for his sense of humor, where you can’t tell if he knows he’s being funny. And then, I thought about the Jewish community in London and where a lot of that community is from. I started listening to accents from Northeast London. And then, I just committed to that and found this guy. It wasn’t just about accents. It was also about his timidness and wanting to connect with people, but not quite knowing how.
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How did you want to approach the tone for this story?
DIAB: I’m gonna talk about myself, as an Egyptian. Egyptians are funny in the most dire situations. At a funeral, we’re gonna crack a joke. That’s the way it is. I felt there was already a Marvel tone to the show, before I even came in. Oscar’s take definitely took it in a different direction, a little bit. Each one of the people that were participating put something on it that pushed it a bit different. The humor feels a bit different than the norm, which is something I’m so proud of.
CURTIS: In everything we do, our cheat to finding the humanity in characters is to have them crack a joke in a stressful situation. Decades of storytelling has been somewhat defined by that.
DIAB: Another thing I’m really proud of is putting all the genres together and blending them in a way that doesn’t feel alien. You have horror, you have action, you have comedy, and you have very serious drama, but you never feel like, “Okay, this is not going well.” It all blends in a very good way. A lot of times, Oscar would tell me what’s funny and what’s not because it’s not my language. But when I’d hit it and it was a joke that I created, I literally danced because I was funny in another language. That happens once in a blue moon.
What was it like to shoot this on location?
HAWKE: We got to be on the deserts in Jordan and literally were on location where they shotLawrence of Arabia. One of the things that surprised me about the Marvel Universe is that it’s fun, acting in front of a lot of green screens. I come from theater training. I enjoyed all that, and pretending something was there and that you were on top of a pyramid. And then, when you’re really in the desert, it’s so beautiful. I felt some kind of connection to the cinema history of the desert. The people in Jordan treated us so well that it elevated our collective imagination and broadened the scope of the show. I loved being there.
How did you approach designing the look and feel of the suit?
CURTIS: This character has been around since 1975. The artisan craftsmen and craftswomen that have been associated with this project on the page are incredible, but then you bring in these guys and these gals, and what this team of artist craftsmen and craftswomen do, and what we were able to translate to the suit, taking inspiration from a lot of the great pages of 50+ years. It was really best idea wins, and I think the best idea is what you see, both in the Mr. Knight and the Moon Knight costumes.
ISAAC: It was an investigation and a collaboration. That was what was so exciting. There was a moment there when originally Marc was Mr. Knight and Steven was Moon Knight. We talked about all these things and tried to make it all connect, so that switched. Meghan [Kasperlik], our costume designer, just did such an astounding job, taking it from a concept to something I could wear and move in and fight in. The craftsmanship is just astonishing.
DIAB: Even before Oscar came, there was a suit and we all felt it was the best suit in the world. And then, Oscar came and he had some comments. The suit is beautiful and it reminds me of the power of collaboration. Why work with one mind when you can work with 50, and it really shows in that suit. Everyone loves how different it is from all the other Marvel shows.
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This series delves into ancient Egyptian mythology. Did you do any deep dives into the history, or did you stick to the comics?
HAWKE: We had a huge advantage, which is our director is Mohamed Diab, provided an education. The way Mohamed thinks and talks, the way he edits, and the way his brain works musically, is a different rhythm than the one I’ve grown up in, and it was wonderful. He brought in other Egyptian actors. The way he thought about approaching scenes was with a unique point of view, and that was more valuable to us, as performers, than something we could learn from a textbook. Perhaps I probably should have learned more about it, but I felt so safe with Mohamed. I knew it was incredibly important to him, to not just respect it and honor it, but to revere it and to be playful. He was our leader, in that way, and we felt very safe with him there because of that.
DIAB: First, I’m very humbled by what he said. When it came to the signing, everyone sees Ethan as this great, legendary independent film actor, and joining the superhero world is something big. Oscar first approached him, and then I talked to him about it. I pitched him the idea, but then I said, “Please don’t read the script.” When you work with him, you have to get it from him. Harrow is his son, in a way. It’s a ping-pong between us all, but it’s definitely his son. He told me, “This is the first time in 35 years that I signed something without reading a script.” And he did it.
HAWKE: The one thing I wouldn’t want this whole conversation to go by without saying is, in my experience, usually when there’s a big budget, there’s a tremendous amount of fear, the people in charge are incredibly controlling, and creativity is reduced. In my experience with Grant and with Marvel, it’s the opposite of that. They’ve translated their success into confidence. Yes, we’re gonna cook in their kitchen, but if we stay in their kitchen, we can do what we want. There was a lot of playfulness, a lot of willingness to fail, and a lot of willingness to have bad ideas. You can’t find a great idea, if we don’t say some dumb ones and make mistakes. I sensed it from Oscar, from the get-go.
ISAAC: A lot of dumb ideas?
HAWKE: There was a huge passion to contribute. When an actor has a strong hit on a character and they have something they want to contribute and you follow it, good things happen. Oscar had a hit on this guy and on DID, and how it could be useful, and that combined with the architecture we had already and Mohamad. That’s what collaboration is, and they were willing to let that happen. That’s what they told me would happen, but sometimes [that’s not what happens]. That’s why you don’t sign on without reading a script. But I’m really glad I did. I think it’s better because of the way it evolved.
ISAAC: The moral of the story is, never read the script.
CURTIS: The talent that came around, after Mohamed joined, brought so much authenticity to the storytelling that’s immeasurable. Our composer, Hesham [Nazih], came to the table because of him. Ahmed [Hafez], the editor of episodes 3 and 4, joined because of him. One thing I’m excited about with March 30th is for people to start reading the credits. It’s breathtaking, when you see the names associated with this project, and a lot of those names came along because of all the people involved, but particularly Mohamed, and that’s amazing.
DIAB: This is too much for me, but I have to thank Marvel for giving me the chance to play. They gave us the chance to develop the show when they let us have those table reads. Everyone added their soul to the project, and we hold the record of the least additional photography in the history of Marvel because we rehearsed a lot.
HAWKE: We talked about the show, what it all meant, and whether it could be more interesting. It brought our collective imagination into one thing, and that made it easier [during the shoot]. It was always part of the same team. The imaginative force behind it was the same.
What do you hope audiences take away fromMoon Knight?
DIAB: I would call myself ignorant about DID because all the information that we know is from movies and it’s a bit shallow, so I’m gonna call myself that. But what I learned, through the journey of doing this show, is that the characters, or the identities, need to live with themselves. I identified with that. By the way, each of us, the persona is the mask that we put on. I’m right now putting on a mask to hide my desires. It’s the other character in me. What I learned from Marc and Steven is that I need to be the same. I need to be one person. That’s the struggle that all of us, through the journey of living, are trying to achieve. It’s integration.
ISAAC: That is the thrust of it. 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 pushing it all away. To see that journey happen is a really powerful thing.
