Marvel's new TV show Moon Knight has just dropped. In it Oscar Isaac plays a character
with dissociative identity disorder. This got me thinking: which method acting techniques
does Oscar Isaac apply when playing multiple characters and personalities? Let's find out.
Hello! Welcome to Organic Acting. Active listening is a big part of method acting and acting in
general. Listening, responding, reacting - they're all key components of the method. In Moon Knight,
Oscar Isaac shows a Steven Grant - a mild-mannered museum gift shop employee, struggling with gaps in
his memory and a sudden awareness of a life or lives living within him. It's truly incredible
to see Oscar Isaac responding truthfully as Grant: the shock as he finds himself lost and dislocated
in time and space, suddenly aware there are parts of his consciousness that are not his own.
Isaac expertly uses his imagination to respond truthfully to these dramatic circumstances,
perhaps even using the Magic If to measure his responses to each escalating event
and ask himself: 'how would I respond if this were really happening?' But it's Isaac's performance
when responding to his alter ego Mark Spector that shows the greatest example of active listening.
Isaac performed each of the conversations between Steven and Mark with his brother - actor Michael
Hernandez - with his brother feeding his lines off camera. What better way of responding truthfully
than having a real person - a brother even - playing opposite you as your alter ego?
Genius! Interesting one this: a big part of the method is mastering character voice. Pitch.
Pace. Tone. In Moon Knight Steven Grant is portrayed as a working-class Londoner with a
typical London accent. I can't tell the difference between my waking life and dreams.
Honestly, at first I wasn't a big fan of Oscar Isaac's choice of accent here. The first few
scenes of Moon Knight are very Mary Poppins, but as time progresses, the Steven Grant voice gets
better, more refined. Surely this shows that Oscar Isaac had the care to put in the time,
and - like any good method actor - work hard to perfect specific elements of his character. There
is perhaps one defining element of method acting and that is extensive research. In preparation
for the role, aware he would be playing multiple personalities, Oscar Isaac researched dissociative
identity disorder and even spoke to mental health professionals about the condition. Rather than
just learn his lines and fake it, the actor wanted to understand the subject, invest in the subject
matter. He wanted to empathise. Empathy - putting yourself in another character's shoes - is a big
part of the method. We only got to see two of Mark Spector's identities in the first
episode of Moon Knight, but what we did see shows Isaac's mastery of an important method technique:
physicalisation. All characters are physically different. Their body shapes, posture,
gait or the way they move from A to B are all contrasting. A good method actor knows this
and spends time on physicalisation, working on their character from the top of their head
all the way down to their toes. Look at Steven Grant's physicality: indirect, nervous, jittery,
fast-paced, hunched shoulders, His eyes occasionally avoiding contact with others.
Then in stark contrast we have Mark Spector: direct, confident, commanding.
The fact that Oscar Isaac only has a brief moment to introduce both characters in a contained scene
and makes them both unique and nuanced shows that he has a fine grasp of the
method and able to transform in front of an audience's eyes. Furthermore, I'm looking
forward to seeing some of the story's other characters brought to life in future episodes.
All through method acting techniques. Enjoy this video? A like, share or a subscribe would be
much appreciated. And if you want to learn more about method acting, click on one of these videos.