The Moon Knight Episode 1 Scene That Came Straight From Ethan Hawke
Warning: Contains mild spoilers for "Moon Knight" Episode 1
"Moon Knight" is finally here, landing on Disney+ three long months after its predecessor, "Hawkeye." The show is wildly different from any MCU series before it, thanks mainly in part to the one-of-a-kind antihero Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac) and menacing villain, Dr. Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). Focusing on the latter, it's clear Hawke's Dr. Harrow is one creepy son-of-a-gun. He leads a cult that serves the Egyptian god Ammit, and he wields power through his purple-glowing cane. The cane serves as a channel for Ammit to judge, and those who fail their judgment instantly have the life sucked out of them.
While Dr. Harrow might not be the one really pulling the strings here, he is still terrifying in his own right without Ammit. This is all due to Hawke's commitment to the character, which we know he took very seriously. Taking inspiration from cult leader David Koresh, Hawke went all out for his portrayal of the mystery man. Some of his own ideas even made it to screen, and perhaps one of the creepiest moments in all of Episode 1 was thanks to Hawke's genius.
The opening shot of Moon Knight was all Ethan Hawke's idea
As Episode 1 of "Moon Knight" opens, we see Dr. Arthur Harrow break a glass and subsequently fill his shoes with the shards. He slips his feet in and walks away from the camera all while Bob Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand" plays in the background. He doesn't flinch, limp, gasp, or show any sign of discomfort and merely walks off as if he were wearing a well-broken-in pair of Crocs.
This creepy introduction came directly from Ethan Hawke's noggin. "[Marvel Studios has] tremendous faith and belief in the actor's ability to contribute. That opening scene is a great example of [Marvel] using your creativity to help get you to invest in the show and to come up with original ideas," the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. "So I was really impressed by that."
Hawke's inspiration came from how comic books introduce villains on their pages. "So I went to the directors and said, 'If you were looking at a really good comic book, there's usually one full-page drawing of the villain,'" he said. "Whether a page has four drawings, eight drawings, every now and then, there will be a full-page drawing. So I was like, 'What would the full-page drawing be that introduces Harrow? What is his secret that you want to let the audience in on?'" He pitched the idea to the "Moon Knight" directors, and they went for it.
However, while some might think this strategy was borrowed from Billy Bob Thornton and his crushed-glass-in-the-shoes method for "Sling Blade," Hawke said, "Mine was more inspired by ... I don't know. I guess I was probably reading too much Flannery O'Connor."
"Moon Knight" Episode 1 is now streaming on Disney+.