Marvel didn't know what was up with Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight accent either

Oscar Isaac was iffy on doing another big-budget extravaganza until Moon Knight's Steven Grant entered his life

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  March 21, 2022 | 11:30pm
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Marvel didn't know what was up with Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight accent either
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Moon Knight Screenshot: Marvel

When the Star Wars sequel trilogy ended, star Oscar Isaac wasn’t exactly jumping to get back in bed with Disney or tentpole movies in general. That is, of course, unless he “needed a second house or something.” So it was surprising that Isaac needed a second house or something and took the role of Marvel’s Moon Knight only a year later. There was, apparently, another stipulation: Moon Knight must have a confusing British accent.

As we all know, Moon Knight suffers from dissociative identity disorder, which he expresses via four distinct personalities. One of those personalities Isaac imagined as a British guy named Steven Grant, whose accent is “weird on purpose” due to his “believed heritage,” Isaac said earlier this year to defend his accent.

If that wasn’t already confusing enough, per Isaac’s more recent interview with The Radio Times, Grant “wasn’t necessarily written that way.” Isaac came up with that accent for the character. The actor’s muse cares not for canon.

But it was that discovery that enticed the actor. “Suddenly Steven Grant started appearing for me, and I started doing it around the house for my kids and my wife, and they kept asking me to do it,” Isaac said. “And I was like, ‘Alright, well, maybe there’s something here.’”

“I thought, ‘OK, well, let me see what [Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige] says about this.’ And so I had a meeting with Kevin, I said, ‘This is how I’d want to do it.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, OK, go for it.’”

Moon Knight, which Isaac has called “the first legitimate Marvel character-study since Iron Man,” was something the actor thought he could “hijack” and turn into something “really fucking nutty.” What, pray tell, is nuttier than a British accent?

“It’s funny, because afterwards he told me they didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” Isaac added. “And they weren’t sure it was going to work at all. But you know, in the end I’m glad we did that, because everyone says it kind of makes the show.”

You’ll be able to say “what’s all this then” to Moon Knight on Disney+ on March 30.

 
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