Oscar Isaac and Jared Leto discuss Moon Knight and Morbius
By Daniel Roman
Moon Knight is coming to Disney+ next month, which means soon we’ll be able to lose ourselves in the twisty, mind-bending glory of this very strange-looking series. The latest offering from Marvel on Disney+ sees Oscar Isaac suit up as the titular Moon Knight (aka Marc Spector, aka Steven Grant, aka…you get the picture). Moon Knight is a character who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and the series looks to be leaning into that really well to craft a narrative where what’s real and what’s not will be called into question as the character navigates the confines of their own mind in addition to their vigilant endeavors.
Isaac recently sat down with fellow thespian Jared Leto on Variety’s Actors on Actors series, where the two discussed many different topics relating to the craft. But of course, the thing that peaked our interest the most was when Isaac and Leto began discussing their two prospective superhero projects: Moon Knight, which comes to Disney+ on March 30; and Morbius, which hits theaters April 1 and will see Leto transform into the Living Vampire in the latest of Sony’s villain-centric Spider-Man spinoffs.
Moon Knight had the freedom to make “very weird decisions”
Morbius and Moon Knight certainly have their fans, but they’re not exactly the most well known characters in the Marvel canon. Isaac admitted that before getting contacted for the role, he’d never even heard of the character despite the fact that he’d collected comics when he was younger. “I’d heard of ‘Morbius,’ but I’d never heard of ‘Moon Knight.'”
He went on to discuss how, since Moon Knight is a limited television series as opposed to a feature film, there was no expectation to meet box office demands, which allowed them a lot more freedom to experiment. “There was a lot of room to try stuff because there wasn’t the pressure that we got to make sure we make however many hundreds of millions of dollars on the opening weekend. So we could make it very point-of-view. We could make very weird decisions.”
Was one of those decisions Isaac’s weirdly mesmerizing accent? We may never know. For now, we have the recently released trailer to pore over until the show’s release late next month.
Morbius still coming to theaters on April 1…for now
Conversely, Leto’s next project is going exclusively to the big screen. Morbius is the newest entry in the SSU, or Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. The movie has been hit with multiple delays, most recently when it was pushed back from January 28 to April 1. Yes, it comes out on April Fool’s Day. Here’s hoping this new date isn’t some elaborate prank.
Yet despite the delays and the on-going streaming wars raising the popularity of high budget limited series, Leto’s still glad to be supporting theaters. “It’s a beautiful thing that people are still interested in living with characters over a long period of time in this fragmented world where everyone’s just swiping on TikTok,” the actor said. “I happen to have House of Gucci and Morbius both exclusively in theaters. So, we’re kind of like raising the flag and marching forward even the midst of COVID and everything.”
"I love cinema, I love theater, but I also love the idea that creative people can be flexible and not penalized for doing different kinds of work. You remember a time back in the day, if you did a series, it was either at the beginning or the end of your career. I like that there’s the flexibility there."
“I still have that a little bit,” Isaac admitted. “It’s been very hard to let that go, that idea. And the truth is, my love is the cinema. I think there’s something incredible about the craftsmanship it takes to distill a story to a couple hours, give or take, with the beginning, middle, and end. That’s hard to beat for me.”
Isaac’s last big screen feature was Denis Villeneuve’s visionary adaptation of Dune, which Leto revealed was the first and only film he went to theaters to see since the pandemic began. Time will tell whether Isaac returns the favor and sneaks in to see Morbius upon its release.
Moon Knight premieres March 30 on Disney+. Morbius debuts exclusively in theaters on April 1.
Next. Tom Holland has had “conversations” about returning as Spider-Man. dark
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