Since Disney+'s Moon Knight features a lead character that suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID), lead actor Oscar Isaac needed to change his acting method during filming to better capture the condition.
"It was definitely challenging at first because I wasn't so comfortable switching between the two. So I would ask if we could just shoot all of Steven's stuff first and then all of Marc's, and then slowly, as I got more comfortable and I really got a handle on both characters, it became easier to switch in-between the two, even in the same moment," Isaac told Astro Gempak. "That was a challenge, but also just the technical part of figuring out how to act with myself and how to figure all that out in-camera," Isaac continued. "That took a lot of figuring it all out."
The first episode of Moon Knight introduced audiences to Steven Grant, a mild-mannered museum gift shop worker. Throughout the episode, Steven suffers from blackouts and confusing dreams which were revealed to be caused by the emergence of Marc Spector, one of his alters that he was previously unaware of. Marc Spector is an ex-mercenary that acts as the avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu, leading to a huge contrast in the personalities, knowledge and skills of the two alters.
Isaac has spoken previously of the challenges of playing both Marc and Steven, particularly in scenes where the two characters interact and converse. Luckily for the actor, he was able to call on a familiar face to help with those scenes. "The first step was to hire my brother, Michael Hernandez, to come in and be the other me," Isaac explained. Hernandez played the other role opposite Isaac, complete with the correct accent based on notes given to him by his brother.
Having a lead character with DID opened up several storytelling possibilities that usually aren't on the table, including a very complicated love life. While Marc is married to Layla, when she finally gets in contact with her husband, it's Steven who picks up the phone. "When Layla comes into [Steven's] life and seems like the only person that can help him, his life suddenly starts to both fall apart and light up, because he has someone and she's saying that they're supposed to be married, but she's mistaken him for someone else," Isaac explained.
New episodes of Moon Knight premiere every Wednesday on Disney+
Source: YouTube