Oscar Isaac Says Moon Knight Is 'A Limited Series' And It Gets 'Very Weird'
As fun a narrative as it may be for Marvel Studios and DC Films to cast actors who are also big fans of the superheroes they're playing — look no further than Andrew Garfield's endearing sense of protectiveness over portraying Peter Parker in both "The Amazing Spider-Man" movies — I also have to appreciate when actors just straight-up admit that some of these newer and lesser-known characters are as foreign to them as they are to the majority of casual audiences.
When a franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued to flourish and thrive for as long as it has, it's only inevitable that new movies and shows have to dip into even more niche characters and sub-franchises. Sometimes you get lucky and end up with James Gunn directing "Guardians of the Galaxy" and turning its crew of nobodies into beloved, name-brand movies. Other times, well, you also get James Gunn directing "The Suicide Squad" and turning its crew of (mostly) nobodies into a successful movie and an equally popular spin-off series. I'm starting to sense a trend here.
In any case, Marvel's "Moon Knight" will have to make do without Gunn's influence. Instead, the Disney+ series will rely on Oscar Isaac's star power as Marc Spector and the guiding hands of creator Jeremy Slater and director Mohamed Diab. Isaac, who has previously described filming for this new hero as his "most challenging" shoot yet, is back and talking up the upcoming series even more. In the latest of Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, where stars sit down face-to-face and interview one another, Isaac talked with fellow superhero/antihero star Jared Leto (soon starring in "Morbius") to compare their two projects and the similarities of bringing to life two Marvel properties that most people likely haven't heard of before — including, apparently, Oscar Isaac himself.
"We Could Make Very Weird Decisions"
The official trailer for "Moon Knight" teased a dark, chaotic, and thrilling adventure that puts the hero's unique Egyptian-inspired mythology and hints of even more to come at the center of the action. Luckily for fans, Oscar Isaac took it upon himself to provide even more information about the series, such as the risks that the creative team were able to take and the fact that "Moon Knight" may only be destined for one season as a "limited series:"
"I'd never heard of 'Moon Knight' before, and I collected comics when I was younger. I'd heard of 'Morbius,' but I'd never heard of 'Moon Knight.' I don't know how the process was for you because ['Morbius' is] a feature film, we're a limited series. There was a lot of room to try stuff because there wasn't the pressure that we got to make sure we make however many hundreds of millions of dollars on the opening weekend. So we could make it very point-of-view. We could make very weird decisions. At the moment, at least — and I don't imagine it's going to go backwards — it feels like that's where more of the risk is being taken because it can, financially."
Though some fans may have been disappointed to see "Moon Knight" relegated to a Disney+ streaming show rather than a movie, Isaac clearly sees that as a major advantage. Movies like "Morbius" or even other films set firmly within the MCU may not have the latitude to really risk alienating any portion of their audiences whatsoever, instead sanding down the rough edges of their characters to make them into more of a palatable crowd-pleaser. Based on the relatively divisive reactions to shows like "WandaVision," however, that doesn't appear to be as big a priority on the streaming side of the equation. Even if only billed as a limited series, perhaps "Moon Knight" will be able to take such a dark and mentally disturbed character to extremes that a movie never could've allowed. If successful, of course, there's no telling where the character may turn up next.
"Moon Knight" is scheduled to debut on Disney+ on March 30, 2022.