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
Aux News Oscar Isaac
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.
65 Comments
I like him and hope this show is entertaining.
Kev, I love you man, but part of your job is saying ‘no’ when an employee comes to you with a dumb idea.
Like you could say no to Oscar Issac no matter how dumb he’s being.
Kevin: Oscar, no. That’s a bad idea.Oscar: C’MonnnnnnnKevin: Ok, you sold me.
for years they’ve been telling these stories about ‘calling up kevin and him agreeing’ so at this point it would be more interesting if the story was ‘we called up up kevin and he thought it was fucking stupid and laughed at me’
That was when Nic Cage called him about Ghost Rider 3.
You never know, maybe he talked him down from an outrageous Scottish accent in the vein of Mike Myers.
If the show intends to make it an early secret that this is not his real personality (despite a lot of people already knowing otherwise), it’s going to come across as bad acting until the episode where this twist is revealed which might not be the first episode… so yah… bad call.
You alright babes?
Oh, like you guys are experts on what sort of accents they have on the moon.
I assume it’s Swiss, on account of all the cheese
A lot of holes in that theory.
Don’t ask me, I’m staying neutral.
What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
What makes a man turn neutral?
It’s actually made of Wensleydale.
Yes?
Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were talking to me. Mr. Wensleydale, that’s my name.
Not much of a cheese shop you have here.
Finest in the district, sir!
Explain the logic underpinning that conclusion, pray?
Damn, I did this all wrong because I’d have preferred to get to do the “well, it’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese” line.
Ah, bugger, I was actually gonna use that one next.Till next time, my friend…
Dinsdale?
Honestly, it had never oc-curd to me.
Clearly, one of the voices should’ve been meatball …
God I wish they would get weird like that more often. I loved that stupid fuckin sketch
I mean, it makes sense that Spector/Grant would have a bad English accent for somewhat spoilery reasons.
I can forgive the accent but that CG looks rough
At this ping Moon Knight is either going to be the absolute best Disney+ MCU show or it’s going to be absolute worst Which is fitting for the character who’s comics have always been either great or terribleI just hope he escapes a death trap with a can of Schlitz
or just mediocre with a stupid accent choice
AKA the Tom Hardy approach.
So your saying it’s either gonna be the Last Jedi or Rise of the Skywalker? Sounds about right! 😉
I did a shallow dive into some recent MK runs and I’m looking forward to the series more than when it was announced.That said, I am NOT looking forward to the Discourse about it.
i just wish they’d stop pushing it as ‘crazy’. at the end of the day we know they don’t have much freedom to do anything truly weird or interesting. it’ll maybe zig instead of zag the first few episodes but c’mon.like, it’ll be as crazy as wandavision, which is fine! but i don’t think this is going to mind-blowing or anything and i think they’re doing it a disservice.
Wandavision was pretty crazy though? It was a postmodern sitcom pastiche that revealed to the lead character torturing hundreds of people. A fake version of the lead character’s brother was played by the actor who had played him in a different studio’s franchise; she was pregnant for a week then had imaginary children; there was a deathmatch between two resurrected Visions… How much crazier do you want it?
Who’s going to set that death trap? They haven’t even hinted at Nick Fury having a gay brother yet.
“…I started doing it around the house for my kids and my wife, and they kept asking me to do it,” Isaac said. His wife went on to say “If it’ll keep a roof over our heads and keep heating the pool in the back, do whatever you want. Have you taken out the garbage like I asked you… yesterday?!”
“Oi, mum, wossat? Is what ye possibly referrin to is the rubbish bi- OW OW okay okay, I’m getting it.”
Moon Knight is from Belfast apparently.
Well, of course it is that fabled ‘British’ accent again. Probably not broadly Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish, much less specifically Geordie, Scouse, Brummie, Glaswegian, Teuchter, Cockney, but possibly, since those are all British. I’m going to take a wild guess that by British, he means vaguely posh southern English, but intermittently effective at best.
Everyone, everywhere, is referring to whatever the prevailing metropolitan elite accent is when they refer to a foreign accent in nonspecific terms. You’re going to have an aneurysm if you spend your life offended by the fact that “French accent” doesn’t commonly mean Breton or Provencal.
The difference being, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are countries.
And to be fair, when Brits put on an American accent, they always do “YEEHAW TEXAN”
House and Vigilante don’t sound particularly “YEE HAW TEXAN” to me.
Oh I mean like average British people I’ve met. Not professional actors!
the “British accent” = basically a 40 mile-wide band to the west and north of London.
I actually think it’s a pretty good accent – definitely not posh and not vague. It’s an Essex accent and from the clips in the trailer it’s accurate and convincing to this Brit.What’s weird is seeing it come out of Isaac’s handsome Hollywood face.
I’ve never been. You are saying there are no good looking Hollywood faces in Essex? How about (quickly googles)…um…Nick Frost…? No.
Based on the context it would be fine if the accent is inaccurate, as it is coming from somebody whose personality disorder causes them to think they are British. The person has no real experience living in England and would come up with an approximation based on what they subconsciously believe the accent should sound like
Which is quite a good explanation for not being able to do one that well, I’m sure we can both agree. Not that I’ve heard it yet myself.
“As we all know, Moon Knight suffers from dissociative identity disorder”Has this always been the case? I only had like one issue of a Moon Knight comic, back in the 80s, so I might have missed it.EDIT: Ah, yep. It was made a disorder in 1985, which must have been after I stopped paying attention.
Man, The Last Jedi sucked, am I right? Has anyone talked about this?!
I can now reveal that, as a fellow Brit, Izzy (that’s my best mate nickname for Isaac) came to to me for help with his Steve character. Now, thanks entirely to me, you can expect such quips as:“Lawks a-lordy! I’m that Moon fella, is what I am! Cor blimey, guv!”“You fink yer ‘ard, mate? I’m a fuckin’ LUNARtic!”and Steve/Moon Knight’s well-known catchphrase: “Yer ‘avin’ a larf!”
I remember he did really bizarre accents for every skit he was in when he hosted SNL. Weird guy!
I enjoyed his episode. I hope he uses this accent to sing a song to a sek-sual woman.
Is there any chance that whatever his accent, Moon Knight is still Jewish?
The first time I heard the accent in the trailer I thought, “Hey, Rufus Sewell is in this too?”
Rufus Sewell should be in the MCU because Rufus Sewell should be in everything.
These mediocres aren’t ready for Rufus Sewell.
Thanks for the let’s-dampen-the-confidence-in-this-show’s-potential piece.
I heard a [supposed] multiple-personality interviewed years back. Her various accents were really wrong for whatever they were supposed to be. I like Oscar Isaac’s idea that one of Moon Knight’s personalities would know he should have an accent, but that he wouldn’t be good at it. If that’s Isaac’s idea, and it kinda seems like it is. I’ll watch it that way at least.
Well, thank fuck he didn’t decide to give the character a Scottish accent. Yanks are incapable of doing more than Sean Connery or Brigadoon when it comes to my wee country’s accents. Christ, imagine the hilarity if one of them attempted a Welsh accent…
You forgot Scrooge McDuck.
There seems to be a lot of these pre release “guess what this actor did/didn’t do to prepare/during filming of the next big Marvel film” stories. I hope this reads easily.
He did do the voice for Poe in some Star Wars cartoon and if you’re implying he’s only doing Marvel for a house then I’d like to know what he did Dune and is doing Metal Gear Solid for. An addition?