Oscar Isaac said he looked in an unusual place when seeking inspiration for his character Steven Grant in the upcoming Dinsey+ series Moon Knight. He channeled Karl Pilkington, but who is he?
The highly-anticipated series is set to hit Disney+ on Wednesday, March 30 and is the next release from Marvel Studios.
What is Moon Knight?
The series follows Steven Grant, played by Isaac, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life.
Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.
In the comics, Grant is a rich playboy, but the show and actor took the character in a different direction – meaning Isaac had to look in some unusual places for character inspiration.
Who Was Isaac’s Inspiration?
At a press conference attended by CBR, Isaac spoke about his unusual approach to getting his character just right and said he looked to shows like the British sitcom Stath Lets Flats.
‘There’s just so much of that humor that I just find so funny, and I thought there’s an opportunity here to maybe make something,’ the actor said. ‘What if we make him English? What if Peter Sellers was approached with a Marvel project, what would he do?’
That’s when he moved to the An Idiot Abroad star Karl Pilkington as he said: ‘I started thinking about that, and that led me to Karl Pilkington from An Idiot Abroad. And not so much for the accent but just for his sense of humor where he doesn’t know – you know, you can’t tell if he knows he’s being funny.
‘And then, I thought about the Jewish community in London and where a lot of that community is from and Enfield as an area and sort of listening to accents that are northeast London.
‘And then just committed to that and found this guy that it wasn’t just about accent, but it was also about his timidness but also wanting to connect with people but not quite knowing how. So yeah, Russell Kane was another — is a comedian that I listened to, as well.’
Who Is Karl Pilkington?
Karl Pilkington is an English presenter, comedian, actor, producer, and author who is probably most well-known for his work with The Office creator Ricky Gervais.
He rose to fame as the producer of Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s radio show on XFM, Pilkington later became a co-host of The Ricky Gervais Show.
The 49-year-old then starred in his own show, An Idiot Abroad, which ran for three seasons. In it he would visit places chosen by Gervais and Merchant he often didn’t like – including one where he travelled to various locations along the route taken by Marco Polo to China alongside Warwick Davis.
He then started a new series on Sky 1 called The Moaning of Life where, instead of visiting places chosen by him to visit, he picked his own.
Pilkington is 49 and has a long-term partner called Suzanne. He was born in Greater Manchester but later travelled to London where he would ultimately find success on XFM.
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