Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: disney, marvel, moon knight, tv

Moon Knight: Oscar Isaac Discusses Conversations He Had With Himself

Moon Knight was always going to be a tricky role no matter who they decided to cast. It's tough to make someone with multiple personalities not look goofy or over the top while also making sure that each of these characters is distinct. It's a tricky line to walk, and most pieces of media don't walk it well [looking at you, Split]. For Oscar Isaac and his portrayal of Steven Grant and Marc Spector in  Moon Knight, we see this story unfold from their eyes, so we see things from both of their points of view. So Isaac was going to have a lot of conversations with, essentially, himself. During the virtual worldwide press conference, Issac was asked about how he went about acting and talking with, essentially, himself.

"Well, the first step was to hire my brother, Michael Hernandez, to come in and be the other me," Isaac explained, which is such an obvious thing to do yet also kind of genius. "That's the closest thing to me there is on Earth. So he came in, and he would play either Steven or Marc, even do the accent and everything, both accents. So that was really helpful to have someone that's not only a great actor but also shares my DNA to play off of. But that was something that I didn't anticipate was how technically demanding that was going to be of 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, and then do the scene, and then switch characters, and then figure it out," Isaac continued. "Because one of the fun — I think maybe if not the most fun thing about acting is acting opposite somebody and letting something spontaneous happen that you didn't expect. But there wasn't really an opportunity to do that and still having to try to find what makes it feel spontaneous and not all planned out. So that was challenging."

It was an interesting dynamic for other cast members as well. May Calamawy's Layla spends a lot of one-on-one time with both Marc and Steven in the first few episodes of Moon Knight, and she was asked what it was like working with Isaac and seeing him play these two different characters. She explained that Isaac made them both so distinct that she immediately knew which character she was working with.

"But he really understands it at such a cellular level," Calamawy said of her Moon Knight co-star. "And when he would be each character, it was really two separate people, and I could feel the energy. I wouldn't even have to ask who he was. With Marc, I would find myself more guarded around. With Steven, I'd feel more nurturing. And there was no intellect or thought process involved in it. It was just visceral, and it was so fun to work with you and experience that."

The portrayal of DID with Marc and Steven is one of the things that is going to make or break this show for some people. It's a complicated disorder, and the early social media reactions are looking pretty positive, but, as previously said, it's complicated. However, while Steven and Marc are two distinct characters, their portrayal of them is much more nuanced. It's all about body language, with the accent being the most obvious distinguishing feature between these two voices.

When Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life, he discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc's enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Joining Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke in the streaming series is May Calamawy (Hulu's Ramy) and the late Gaspard Ulliel (Hannibal Rising), with Mohamed Diab (Clash, Cairo 678) being joined by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless, Synchronic) in the directors' circle. Jeremy Slater is the head writer and executive producer, alongside Isaac, Diab, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Grant Curtis, and Brad Winderbaum. Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch co-executive producer, with Marvel Studios as the producing studio. Moon Knight will stream to Disney+ start on March 30th.

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