Ethan Hawke is currently set to star in the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, where he’ll play a currently unknown villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Hawke was previously unsure of whether or not he would fit in the world of a comic book series.
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“The comic book world meant a lot to me when I was younger,” Hawke said in a recent interview with EW. “I was always a little apprehensive; there’s a certain kind of actor that really excels in that universe, and I’m still not sure I’m one of them. But then Oscar [Isaac] asked me, and I really respect him. And I knew that if he went in, he was going to go all in, and it’s fun to do any genre with people who are all in. Mohamed Diab, I really like his films, he’s a special director. So it just became about the project, and it wasn’t an intellectual decision at all; it was like, ‘Oh, let’s do something cool with these guys.’ And the more I learned about the Moon Knight, the more turned on I got, because it’s so much better than trying to create something that the audience already has a big agenda with.”
Hawke went on to describe how playing a role in a more obscure world like Moon Knight’s helped ease his apprehension, as opposed to if he had to step into a more established and beloved world.
“Like, if you do Batman or Superman or Hulk, any of these famous ones, the fans have so many preconceived things that they want from it,” Hawke said. “It’s like playing Hamlet. Ninety percent of people there have an opinion about how Hamlet should be played. I love doing Shakespeare in front of student audiences because they don’t have a big agenda. They didn’t see how much better Patrick Stewart did it than you. They’re just accepting of how you did it. And with Moon Knight, we get to create a world and a character. The fan in me always enjoys the first movie. I love learning about how the hell Captain America came to be — those are my favorite parts of the story.”
Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight will feature the introduction of Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac in the titular role of Marc Spector, which marks the iconic superhero’s live-action debut and is expected to be featured in future MCU films.
It is being written and developed by head writer Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy). The episodes are directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab and Synchronic duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. In addition to leading the series, Isaac is also serving as an executive producer. The series also stars Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke, Gaspard Ulliel, and May Calamawy.
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Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin in 1975 for “Werewolf by Night” #32, Moon Knight is the alter ego of Marc Spector, a Jewish-American rabbi’s son who grew up to become a heavyweight boxer and then a U.S. Marine. Spector is a mercenary with numerous alter egos such as cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant in order to better fight the criminal underworld.
