‘Moon Knight’ Star Oscar Isaac Received Advice on Working With Kevin Feige: ‘Don’t Be Afraid’
Moon Knight is bringing Marvel fans a brand new origin story, delivering a narrative centered on mental illness through the perspectives of Steven Grant and Marc Spector. Both of Moon Knight’s identities are brought to life by Oscar Isaac, who has fallen into the Marvel Cinematic Universe quite nicely. And apparently, he received advice from another one of the franchise’s stars about working alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
Oscar Isaac joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ‘Moon Knight’
Although Oscar Isaac has worked in major franchises before, Moon Knight marks his first time stepping into the MCU. The actor comes from a background that includes the Star Wars sequel movies, as well as hits like Dune. And according to him, his Star Wars experience made him question whether he really wanted to join another big franchise.
In an interview with RadioTimes.com, Isaac explained, “For me, it was all reservations. It was months of smashing my head against a stone wall like, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’”
“I had just kinda got out of the whole, you know, big machinery of Star Wars,” he added. “And I was like, ‘I just really want to do character studies. And I don’t know.’”
Of course, Moon Knight is something of a character study — and that might be what sold the actor on the Marvel series. He told RadioTimes that Steven’s potential drew him in. But apparently, he approached Kevin Feige to make some changes to the initial plan for the character.
Robert Downey Jr. gave the ‘Moon Knight’ star advice about working with Kevin Feige
Joining any new franchise comes with challenges, and one Marvel star offered Oscar Isaac some advice for Moon Knight — and more specifically, about working with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man in the MCU for nearly a decade, told Isaac to be upfront about his suggestions for the role. Speaking with Katie Krause at Extra, Isaac recalled the Iron Man actor’s words of wisdom.
“I talked to him a lot… just talking to him about it and just what his sense of it is and how his process has been and… he was such a great, great person to talk to about the whole thing,” Isaac admitted.
He continued, “He really said that, you know, ‘Kevin Feige, he’s a genius and he’s a collaborator… so don’t be afraid to come in and give your ideas and give your thoughts and to be bold with your choices.’”
That seems like solid advice for any new project. And Isaac certainly brought his own ideas to the role — both before signing on and after work on the project had begun. In fact, he even came out with a major differentiator between Steven and Marc.
It seems Oscar Isaac took Robert Downey Jr.’s advice
Speaking with RadioTimes, Oscar Isaac touched on how he helped create the Steven Grant who appears in Moon Knight. And series writer Jeremy Slater reiterated that point during an interview with Empire, during which he revealed it was Isaac’s idea to give Steven Grant a British accent.
“In the initial script, the difference between Steven and Marc was in attitude,” Slater told the outlet. “It was Oscar who said, ‘What about an accent?’”
In that sense, it seems he went full steam ahead with Robert Downey Jr.’s advice. And thus far, it’s resulted in a compelling performance from the actor. Hopefully, this won’t be his only adventure in the MCU.
The first two episodes of Moon Knight are currently streaming on Disney+.
