Oscar Isaac Reveals The Unlikely Influence Behind His ‘Moon Knight’

Moon Knight star Oscar Isaac reveals the unlikely people who inspired his interpretation of the Marvel hero.

During an interview with NME, the 43-year-old said that a lot of thought went into the building of his character, Steven Grant, whom he conceived as British.

“I thought, ‘What’s an energy that I haven’t seen in the MCU before? Like, what if someone asked Peter Sellers to be in a Marvel movie,” he said.

Explaining that he wanted his character to have a comedic dimension, Isaac cited taking inspiration from blunt British comedian, Karl Pilkington.

“I thought of Karl Pilkington,” he said. “I was watching a lot of An Idiot Abroad, not so much for the accent, but for the comedy of it: like, you often don’t know if he knows he’s being funny. And there’s something a little but naturally introverted about him, which I really liked a lot.”

Isaac continued that to make Grant an even more unique addition to the MCU, he determined he would also be Jewish – straying away from the typical British Hollywood tropes.

“So I also listened to Russell Kane, the comedian, because he comes from [Enfield] and I put a bit of Russell Brand, even though he’s much more loquacious. And then, really, it was about finding the [character]’s emotional place. Like, why he is kind of mumbly and inward.”

Further complicating the character is his Dissociative Identity Disorder which has led him to maintain multiple personalities. One of these personalities, named Mark Spector, is a battle-scarred mercenary, completely at odds with Grant’s demure nature.

This, of course, is further complicated by the fact that they play host to an Egyptian god named Khonshu, who transforms them into their superhero persona, Moon Knight.

The new series debuts on Disney+ on March 30.

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