Is it a badge of honor to be cast in a Marvel Studios project? For many, it is. The MCU is populated with the biggest and brightest of Hollywood stars, and boasts a much larger than expected stable of Tinseltown legends in its roster. I mean, Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Angelina Jolie, Samuel L. Jackson and Annette Bening are all members of the MCU. It doesn’t get more majestic than that.
At the end of the day, though, a Marvel Studios gig is also just that: A gig. Actors takes roles for many reasons, and needing a job is definitely one of them. This explains, to a small extent, the presence of Ethan Hawke in an undefined role in the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight. Hawke hasn’t done comic-book work in the past, but had to be intrigued by the casting of the outstanding Oscar Isaac in the title role. While appearing as a guest on CinemaBlend’s official podcast, ReelBlend, Hawke gave his reason for joining Moon Knight, as well as how the shoot went. He said:
I just spent the last six months of my life in Budapest, working. You know, I’m a player. Players play. This is where the game is at right now. If it was the ‘50s, I’d be making a Western with John Ford. You gotta go, and you gotta do your best. I was shocked at how gifted and passionate everybody I met there was. They care a lot about what they are doing, and they’re a really kind group of people that are dedicated to their universe. I was on a learning curve of trying to catch up with what they’ve been up to, and what they are doing. But I left the experience really impressed.
Players definitely do have to go where the game is being played, and Ethan Hawke’s analogy of superhero epics being the modern equivalent of the Western is apt. The Western actually lasted longer than the current 20-year boom of comic-book blockbusters, though Marvel, DC and their counterparts don’t seem to be slowing this train down. On the contrary, the storytelling is expanding to streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+ for shows such as Peacemaker and Hawkeye, which expand on the movies that audiences are flocking to theaters to see. Hawke definitely seemed impressed by what he found over at Marvel. Be in all honesty, he took the gig because that’s where the gigs are at the moment, and he isn’t wrong.
Not a lot is known about Moon Knight at the moment. The comics focus on the character of Marc Spector, a mercenary with multiple personalities who serves as a conduit for the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu. Moon Knight has been described as Marvel’s answer to Batman, a highly-trained fighter with wealth on his side who prowls the shadows of the evening and takes down all manner of threats. I’m expecting Ethan Hawke to be one of those threats, but we will find out for sure when the series lands on Disney+ in 2022.
