Moon Knight's Ethan Hawke Says He Was Apprehensive To Play A Villain
Moon Knight star Ethan Hawke reveals he was apprehensive to play a comic book villain prior to joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. Developed by The Umbrella Academy's Jeremy Slater, the show marks the MCU debut of its titular hero and centers on Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift shop employee who suffers from blackouts and memories of another life. He eventually comes to learn his true identity is that of Marc Spector, a mercenary with dissociative identity disorder who becomes the host for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu.
Oscar Isaac is leading the cast of Moon Knight as Marc alongside Hawke as the villainous cult leader Arthur Harrow, Gaspard Ulliel as Midnight Man, Lucy Thackeray and May Calamawy. Development on the show was first announced in mid-2019 at the D23 conference with Slater being hired a few months later and Mohamed Diab being tapped to direct the majority of the series and executive produce. With production on Moon Knight having run from April 2021 to October, audiences are anxiously awaiting its arrival in March.
With the series gearing up for its premiere, Hawke caught up with Entertainment Weekly to discuss Moon Knight. In looking at his antagonistic role in the project, the star opened up about being apprehensive to play a comic book villain prior to joining the show and how learning more about the story and character got him interested. See what Hawke said below:
"I've always had this theory that when you teach an audience how to see the demon inside you, they don't unsee it for the rest of your career. Jack Nicholson can be playing an accountant and you're still waiting for him to explode like he did in The Shining. It changes your relationship to a performer, so I've always been nervous about it. But I realized I'm on the other side of 50 and it's time to put a new tool in the tool kit. Villains might be my future.
The comic book world meant a lot to me when I was younger. 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 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. 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."
Moon Knight marks an interesting new career direction for Hawke as he takes on the villainous Arthur Darrow, who he has compared to infamous cult leader David Koresh and psychiatrist Carl Jung. The role comes as audiences are eagerly awaiting his reunion with Sinister duo Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill for their adaptation of Joe Hill's The Black Phone, in which he also takes on the rare villain role of The Grabber. Since its premiere at the Fantastic Fest in September 2021, the film and Hawke's performance have received rave reviews, creating further anticipation for his work in Moon Knight.
Despite his apprehension to take on a comic book villain role, Hawke's comments on what drew him to Moon Knight should come as promising insight for what's to come from the MCU series. Anticipation for his MCU debut was high as his villain was kept under wraps prior to the trailer confirming his appearance as Arthur Harrow, a character who only appeared in one issue as an antagonist to Moon Knight in a much different fashion than that teased in the show's recent trailer. Only time will tell when Moon Knight premieres on Disney+ on March 30.
Source: EW