Moon Knight Episode 2 Directors Break Down Why the Series Focus on Steven’s “Waking Nightmare”

Moon Knight episode two hit Disney+ today and it was pretty exceptional. Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead recently talked about the episode and discussed Steven’s ongoing personality disorder. The directors spoke to ComicBookMovie.com and revealed that the issue is a nightmare for the character.

“No matter how hard you try, to treat, that is actually a waking nightmare and, so we felt a lot of empathy for him, and he’s the person who’s so vulnerable and the human vulnerability of Steven was something that was very easy to penetrate, you feel it almost immediately for him. Whereas, if you start with Marc Spector, especially with the comic from the comic books, he’s somebody who’s so gruff on the outside, he’s so hardened, so emotionally unavailable, his vulnerability takes a little bit longer to get to. So, you find the vulnerability by exposing it through this brotherly relationship he has with Steven.”

Recently, Ethan Hawkeye revealed how much freedom the actors got on set. The actor previously spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the differences between the series and previous projects he worked on. “Through much of my career, the higher the budget went up, the higher the fear quotient went up, and from the people in charge, there was a lot less creativity on set because there was so much fear. But there’s something about the success that Marvel has achieved that empowers them to be confident and not be fearful,” Hawke told the trade. “I’m only guessing here, but somehow in the DNA between Kevin Feige’s relationship to Robert Downey Jr., there’s something really good that happened between the producorial-actor relationship. They have tremendous faith and belief in the actor’s ability to contribute. That opening scene is a great example of them using your creativity to help get you to invest in the show and to come up with original ideas. So I was really impressed by that. Oscar poured himself into this part. At one point when Oscar and I were rehearsing, I said to him, ‘You realize that they’re being so kind? They believe in us so much that if this doesn’t work, it’s our fault. We can’t blame anybody.'(Laughs.) But that’s really empowering as a performer. Yes, you have to work in their kitchen, but they’re going to let you work.”

Marvel Studios and Disney+ describe the series as: “Moon Knight 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.” The first two episodes of Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight are streaming exclusively on Disney+. 

What did you think about the latest episode of Moon Knight? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @NateBrail up on Twitter!