Oscar Isaac quite literally plays opposite himself in Marvel’s Moon Knight, here is how he prepared, and how he found both characters.
One of the best things about Marvel’s Moon Knight is Oscar Isaac. He is phenomenal in this role, or should we say roles. His character suffers from dissociative identity disorder, so fans will see him portraying a few different personas. There is Steven Grant, the soft spoken museum gift shop worker, and Marc Spector the brutal mercenary. Of course he is also Moon Knight and Mr. Knight. In Marvel comic books, there is even a third personality and while are unsure Jake Lockley will show up, we can certainly hope.
The way that Isaac’s mannerisms, body language, and even accent change in the blink of an eye is incredible to watch. He plays opposite himself all throughout the show as he will argue and yell at his other persona. During press for Moon Knight he was asked about how he prepared for this, and how he was able to find both of his characters. Isaac says the first step was to recruit his brother, Michael Hernandez, to the cause.
“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. That was really helpful to have someone that’s not only a great actor, but also shares my DNA to play off of,” Isaac explains. He admits that he didn’t anticipate how technically demanding it was going to be, though. He would have to show up and decide which character he was going to play first, block that out, give his brother notes, then do the scene. After that, he would have to switch characters and figure it all out again.
Oscar Isaac says that one of the most fun things about acting, if not THE most fun thing about acting, is playing opposite someone and letting spontaneous things happen. This is not the first actor I have heard say this before, and it certainly will not be the last. Of course, since he is playing opposite himself, there really wasn’t an opportunity for that to happen with Moon Knight and still have it feel spontaneous and unplanned, which was challenging.
Related: Why Ethan Hawke Didn’t Read The Moon Knight Script
Both Steven and Marc have very different accents. Steven Grant is from London, and Marc Spector is from the United States Of America. Isaac says he learned pretty early on that Moon Knight was going to be set in London, and the reason was there are just too many characters in New York already and Marvel wanted to change it up. He loves English humor like The Office, and he felt there was an opportunity to make something here, and thought what if he is English?
“That led me to Karl Pilkington from An Idiot Abroad. Not so much for the accent but just 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 and Enfield as an area and sort of listening to accents that are northeast London. Then just committed to that and found this guy that it wasn’t just about accent, but it was also about his timidness and wanting to connect with people, but not quite knowing how. Russell Kane is a comedian that I listened to, as well.” – Oscar Isaac
NEXT: 5 Reasons You Should Be Excited For Moon Knight
About Moon Knight
The series follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven 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.
“Moon Knight” stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy. Mohamed Diab and the team of Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead directed the episodes. Jeremy Slater is the head writer, and Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Mohamed Diab, Jeremy Slater and Oscar Isaac are the executive producers. Grant Curtis, Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch serve as co-executive producers.
Moon Knight streams exclusively on Disney+ starting March 30th.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.