Oscar Isaac on his ‘Moon Knight’ Role: What if Peter Sellers Was a Marvel Superhero? – CNET [CNET]

Marvel is certainly getting value for its money from Oscar Isaac. New superhero show Moon Knight mixes action and humor with spooky horror and intriguing mythology, and Isaac embodies that cocktail of styles by playing multiple roles as a normal guy who discovers he’s secretly a superhero — whether he wants to be or not.

Also starring Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy, Moon Knight streams on Disney Plus March 30. Speaking about the show to journalists at an online press conference Monday, Isaac described how he drew inspiration for his character’s non-superhero personality from British comedy icons Peter Sellers and Karl Pilkington. Yes, really.

Isaac plays Steven Grant, a meek museum employee who discovers that sometimes he can be a whole other person. By night, he turns into a badass international mercenary — and if that wasn’t enough, this split personality appears to take orders from an ancient Egyptian god of the moon. 

Isaac describes the show as “a real opportunity to do something completely different, particularly in the MCU, to use Egyptian iconography and the superhero genre language to to really focus on this internal struggle.”

Part of the appeal of the role for the Star Wars and Dune star was to put a slightly different spin on Marvel’s trademark quippy humor from wiseacres like Tony Stark and Peter Parker. “There was a chance to do a different type of comedy,” said Isaac of his bumbling character, “with somebody that doesn’t know they’re being funny.” 

The show is set in London, and when Isaac asked why, he was apparently told Marvel had too many characters living in New York. Isaac wanted to follow that thought even though it meant departing from the comics: “What if we make him English?” Isaac suggested. “What if Peter Sellers was approached with a Marvel project?”

To perfect a timid British accent, the actor began with UK comedy shows like Stath Lets Flats and The Office, as well as comedian Russell Kane and curmudgeon Karl Pilkington (sidekick to Ricky Gervais in various TV and podcast projects). He also listened to the accents of the Jewish community of North London.

The hapless English-accented Steven provides the humor, but the action kicks off when tough guy Marc Spector takes over the character’s body. The brooding Spector is more what you’d expect from a violent superhero. In fact, Isaac said he “leaned into the stereotype of the tortured, dark vigilante guy… [except] with this little Englishman living inside.”

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