Ethan Hawke has praised the performance of his Moon Knight co-star Oscar Isaac, declaring that the work of the Star Wars and Dune star is “phenomenal.” Hawke, who will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+ as the villain to Isaac’s costumed vigilante, admits that he was at one time rather critical of comic book movies, but now likens them to westerns of the 1950’s, and is excited to join the genre with Isaac at his side.
“If you were an actor in the ’50s, you know, they made Westerns. If you’re an actor in the 2020s, you’ve got Marvel. And I’m really fortunate because we’re dealing with a story that doesn’t have a lot of ancillary baggage. If you play Spider-Man or Batman, they’ve got so much baggage and the audience have such expectations. It’s like playing Hamlet – you can’t play it in a vacuum. You’re playing it in relationship to the other Hamlets. Whereas with ‘Moon Knight,’ people don’t know much about it. It doesn’t have a lot of baggage. [Oscar Isaac] is giving an absolutely phenomenal performance, and it feels exciting to be a part of it with him.”
Ethan Hawke explains how he came to join Moon Knight, revealing that it was thanks to a chance run-in with Oscar Isaac at a Brooklyn coffee shop. While it has not yet been revealed who Ethan Hawke will portray in the Disney+ series, many have theorized that it will be Spector’s former employer and backstabbing betrayer, Raoul Bushman. Though the character does not have any superpowers, he is an expert in guerrilla warfare and highly proficient in the use of most conventional firearms, and occasionally uses metal teeth to tear his enemies apart in close combat. Unfortunately, Hawke was unable to offer any more clues due to Marvel’s patented brand of secrecy…
“I’ve signed 10,000 NDAs and they give me a hard time anytime I say anything about it. They’re very secretive about it. They like to create a lot of anticipation. But I understand why people love working for them. They’re extremely active, friendly. They do good world-building and create space for actors. If you want to play, they want you to play.”
Moon Knight has a rich, complicated origin and tells a comic book tale that is ripe for a serial adaptation. Rescued from certain death by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu during a criminal assignment gone wrong, mercenary Marc Spector awakens and becomes the super-powered Moon Knight, leaving his mercenary days behind to instead fight crime and corruption. A unique aspect of Moon Knight, and no doubt the most obvious demonstration of Oscar Isaac’s phenomenal performance, is Spector’s dissociative identity disorder, which manifests itself in the form of three separate personalities, each with distinctive traits, identities, and even fighting styles.
This element is something that fans of the character are looking forward to seeing Isaac bring to life, with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige having since assured fans that this exploration of mental health will play a big part in the Disney+ adaptation saying, “The mental illness is a unique aspect of the program.”
Directed by Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and written by Jeremy Slater, Moon Knight does not yet have a release date but is expected to hit Disney+ sometime in 2022. This comes to us from The Wrap.