‘Moon Knight’: Oscar Isaac’s Brother Earned Himself a Hilarious Nickname on Set
Moon Knight was a family affair for star Oscar Isaac and his younger brother, Michael Hernandez. Ahead of the Marvel show’s premiere a few weeks ago, Isaac shared that he had some help from Hernandez when it came to portraying characters Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and Moon Knight. Now, Hernandez has opened up about working as a body double for Isaac. In a recent interview, he spoke about all the ways he transformed into his brother for the role — and how he received an unusual nickname.
Oscar Isaac’s brother worked as a body double for Isaac on ‘Moon Knight’
As Moon Knight fans know, the show has often included scenes where Steven Grant spoke to his alter ego, Marc Spector, via reflections in mirrors and puddles, and vice versa. It would have only taken a bit of movie magic and editing to make it look like there were two of Oscar Isaac, but he needed a stand-in at some points to play the second personality. So, Isaac called in his brother, a journalist and occasionally a fellow actor.
For example, in a scene where Steven talked to Marc in a reflection, Hernandez would stand opposite Isaac and deliver Marc’s lines so that Isaac could talk back as Steven. Then, they would switch roles. According to Isaac, it just made filming more seamless and made it easier to switch between Steven and Marc.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Oscar Isaac expressed how helpful his brother was on the Moon Knight set.
“It was wild to have him on set and to play off of,” the Dune actor said. “He’s a great actor, and we share DNA, so he was very helpful. I couldn’t have done this with anyone else.”
Michael Hernandez revealed how he transformed into Oscar Isaac and received an unusual nickname
Happy to help out his brother, Hernandez put his all into preparing for Moon Knight. Speaking to Marvel.com, he explained that he went through serious physical training alongside Isaac, including workouts and dieting. The role also took some mental preparation, as Hernandez needed to learn both Steven’s and Marc’s lines to play either character on any given day. He even made sure to practice Steven’s British accent.
“It was really important to make it as detailed as possible,” Hernandez said.
Of course, those details had to include getting Hernandez’s facial features as close to Isaac’s as possible, especially for scenes where they were together in person. The brothers looked alike, but they weren’t twins. So, he wore prosthetic features and a wig. Hernandez continued:
“It was just this weird, mutated abomination of Marc with a fake prosthetic nose. I had never done the whole casting thing where they pour the green goo over your face … and I was totally game for all of that. I was totally game for like, yeah, you want to give me a wig or fake nose? We even thought of fake chin parts and cheeks. But then we established that if we were going to film from behind my shoulder, the nose was the prominent piece to get. And so that made it feel like it was actually Oscar there, because he has a beautiful schnoz, and we wanted to recreate that.”
Interestingly, Hernandez’s alter ego earned himself a silly nickname: “Mork Sphincter.”
“Mork Sphincter will always be a part of me,” he joked.
Oscar Isaac’s brother admired the creative freedom on the set of ‘Moon Knight’
All jokes and transformations aside, Hernandez said he loved how involved he could be in Moon Knight. Like Isaac and his co-stars Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy, Hernandez was always welcome to share ideas. He and Isaac could also improvise lines if they wanted to.
“That was really fun to be part of the collaborative process. To give my input, and just the fact [the directors] were so open and welcoming to all of that made me feel so a part of the team,” he said. “It’s a testament to how they carry themselves and how they represented themselves working on this show — the work and the love that they had for it and for everyone involved.”
New episodes of Moon Knight drop every Wednesday on Disney+, with the finale arriving on May 4. Stay tuned to Showbiz Cheat Sheet for more updates.
