Oscar Isaac Wanted Marvel's Moon Knight to Be Like Iron Man
A new hero rises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Moon Knight star Oscar Isaac wanted to emulate the first: Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man. After calling the Disney+ series the "first legitimate Marvel character-study" since Iron Man, the mold-breaking blockbuster that launched the MCU in 2008, Isaac reveals how the first Marvel movie inspired the latest Marvel Studios Original series. In the six-episode event series streaming March 30, Isaac plays Steven Grant/Marc Spector, a different kind of superhero: one living with a dissociative identity disorder.
"For me, that's still my favorite Marvel movie. That one, that first Iron Man just kind of broke the mold, it was so great," Isaac told Hits Radio. "I think that was a real inspiration to be able to try to achieve something like what they did with that film, that [director] Jon Favreau and Robert did with that movie, which was to create this whole new character, introduce him to the world, and make this indelible hero that you want to follow."
Like Iron Man, about Downey's selfish billionaire playboy inventor turned armored and selfless superhero, Moon Knight "subverts expectations," added Ethan Hawke, who plays villainous cult leader Arthur Harrow.
"The thing that Robert Downey did that was so brilliant was he didn't play a superhero. We had been conditioned of what a superhero movie was, and he just kind of changed the game and gave a performance inside a Marvel movie, which was incredible," Hawke said. "And Oscar had that opportunity here. In the whole history of movies, you've often seen mental illness, but it's always the villain. What if the hero's journey, he was suffering mental illness, but he was healing himself through the show?"
"There was something beautiful about that," Hawke added, "and it also created space for Oscar to do something special."
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.
Marvel Studios' Moon Knight is streaming March 30 on Disney+.
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