Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab has revealed that Oscar Isaac's British accent was inspired by the UK comedy series An Idiot Abroad.
In the comics, Marc Spector AKA Moon Knight is a Missouri-born, Jewish-American who has multiple personas and identities. According to Diab, Isaac's decision to give the character an accent came from a desire to make Moon Knight's story feel more intimate – an important consideration for the actor after he appeared in the blockbusters Dune and Star Wars.
"I told him, ‘It’s not exclusively about big budgets or small budgets. It’s about, do I connect to the story or not? And I think there’s a way to make this into a very intimate story,'" Diab tell SFX Magazine in the new issue. "Eventually Oscar signed, trusting me. And he came up with great stuff that made the character much better. It was his idea to make him into a British guy.”
Isaac's take on Stephen Grant, one of Spector's many identities, shocked the internet when it was first heard in a trailer. The Cockney-style accent is almost silly in nature, providing a stark contrast against the show's otherwise darker tone. Diab says that Isaac took inspiration from British comedy series An Idiot Abroad, whose first and second seasons featured comedian Karl Pilkington on a reluctant trip around the world.
"I was blown away," Diab says. "That was Oscar’s idea. There was a show called An Idiot Abroad. And Oscar said, ‘Mohamed, listen to this!' He talked to me in that character for a while, way before the shoot – maybe five months before we started. It was a great idea and I supported it and Marvel loved it. We heard Steven Grant before we heard Marc."
