The following article contains spoilers for Moon Knight episode 1.
Marvel Studios’Moon Knighthas finally arrived on Disney Plus, and so far the series is already receiving rave reviews from critics and fans. Now, director Mohamed Diab has opened up about some of the first episode’s key scenes, particularly one involving Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant ordering a steak dinner.
The scene fromMarvel Studios’Moon Knightin question involves Steven Grant going on a date with a museum co-worker. However, he doesn’t remember making the date because his alter ego, Marc Spector, presumably arranged it instead. What makes it even worse is that Steven realizes he is two days late to his date due to Spector being involved inanother mission as Moon Knight. Once he accepts he messed up, Steven, being a vegan, goes ahead and orders a steak anyway (even though he doesn’t know how to), a decision that both felt comedic yet heartbreaking, especially since the scene also conveyed his struggle with dissociative identity disorder (DID).
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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Diab shared how such a smaller yet tragic scene almost didn’t make the final cut in the episode, yet he fought to keep it in because it allowed audiences to get a greater understanding of Steven. “I remember fighting for that [steak] scene. That scene was written by me and [consulting producer] Sarah [Goher], and I knew that I was never going to know Steven unless we had that steak scene,” Diab recalled. “That is the moment when the audience is going to say, ‘It’s the first episode, but I’m in love with this character. It’s done.’ To me, it was very important to find something to express that DID is not just blackouts and then his life is fine and normal. No, no, no. DID is destroying his life, even his romantic life. He can’t have a lover or a normal relationship with anyone because of what he’s been going through. It’s such a black comedy kind of moment, but it’s the moment that the audience can connect to Steven.”
Other than the writing and direction in that key steak scene, much of it (like the series entirely) works due to Isaac’s emotional performance. And while it’s great to see him now officially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Isaac was originally hesitant to join such an enormous franchise. What Isaac wasn’t thinking was that the Marvel Studios project would give him the opportunity to work on something that felt “handmade,” and he has since describedMoon Knightas the MCU’s first true character studysince Iron Man.
One episode in and it already appears Isaac will have a lasting impact on the MCU for many years.Moon Knightalso stars Ethan Hawkeas Arthur Harrow, the series' main antagonist, Gaspard Ulliel as Anton Mogart/Midnight Man, May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, and Lucy Thackeray as Donna. The series will run until May 4th, with a new episode premiering every Wednesday.
