Oscar Isaac, a reluctant Marvel hero
Moon Knight Disney+
After already having been a part of a massive film franchise thanks to his role as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Oscar Isaac thought he was done with blockbusters. As he dials for a video chat from Los Angeles, he admits he didn't anticipate starring in a new Marvel series, Moon Knight.
“I wanted to do things that were more character studies,” he says.
After his role as Dameron wrapped with 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, Isaac, who headlined 2013's Inside Llewyn Davis, sought smaller films. There was his torturer-turned-poker player in The Card Counter and his part in HBO's remake of Scenes from a Marriage. Even when he agreed to join a blockbuster, as he did with Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Dune, it was to play a character wrestling with internal demons.
“I really wanted to do things that were more focused on a character and what they go through,” Isaac says. “I didn't know (Moon Knight). So I had a ton of apprehension. I didn't want to be a cog in that wheel again.”
He signed on after meeting with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige. “He's so invested in the material and making something that is great,” Isaac says.
The new series stars Isaac in two roles. He plays Steven Grant, a giftshop employee with dissociative identity disorder, who shares his body with Marc Spector, who battles evil as the god Moon Knight. In the comics, Moon Knight, who debuted in the 1970s, eventually rubs shoulders with other Marvel heroes, but this film is different.
“It was easy to forget we were making a superhero show. But when I walked out in that cape, it was a great reminder that, yes, we were doing a Marvel show.”
He adds that the mystery around Moon Knight was appealing. “There was something really freeing in knowing that it was quite an obscure character. Even the way Moon Knight has been depicted since 1975 has changed so much depending on the writer that's working on it or the artist.
“His powers have changed, his backstory has changed, his look has changed, so it does feel like he's a particularly mutable character and that allowed us to get inspired by what we felt was emotionally relevant and what helped us tell the story we were interested in telling.”