With Marvel’s newest series, Moon Knight, now streaming on Disney+, I recently got to speak with directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead about helming episodes two and four of the series. During the interview, they talked about how they got involved in Moon Knight, what surprised them about working with Marvel, why they wanted to take big swings with the series, how they ended up directing episodes two and four, and what it was like bringing Moon Knight to life in his first live-action role. In addition, with Benson and Moorhead co-directing a majority of the episodes of Loki Season 2, they talked about how they got involved in that series and why they’re excited to be part of that show.

Moon Knight follows Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a mild-mannered gift-shop employee at a London museum, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven soon discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector, a former U.S. Marine whose been given supernatural abilities by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. As Steven and Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Moon Knight also stars May Calamawy (Ramy), Gaspard Ulliel, and F. Murray Abraham as the voice of Khonshu. The series is also directed by Mohamed Diab (episodes 1, 3, 5 and 6) and it's produced by Feige, along with Grant Curtis, Tommy Turtle and Jeremy Slater.

Check out what Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.

COLLIDER: Had you guys been talking to Marvel about stuff prior to Moon Knight? How did this all happen for you guys?

AARON MOORHEAD: Yeah. We'd actually, we'd gone into Marvel over, and over, and over and we'd been trying to find something to work on together. And they very genuinely would say the same thing every time. It was like, "We've got to find something. And this one came around, I think, November of 2020. We pitched on this while we were working on this Netflix show called Archive 81. We actually had to ask for time away from the production to pitch for this, and they're like, "We understand. You should do that."

But also under full COVID lockdown, and it was like deep, deep, full COVID lockdown where we were in hotel rooms or on set and that was it. That was how we celebrated getting this. We ran to each other's room, big old hug and everything like that. We're like, "Wish we could go out to eat."

JUSTIN BENSON: It was also kind of surreal from a point of view of when I was like eight years old or something, I got my first fascination with comic books. I remember trying to share that with my school mates. I remember them looking at me like I had walked into the coolest punk rock store in the world and asked for Green Day. They're just like, "No, no, no, no. Whatever you're reading, don't read that. Moon Knight is the cool thing." I sort of always had this memory being eight years old and having that communicated to me, and then us getting the job to do it. It was like, "Oh, we got the cool thing." Like, this is the cool superhero.

Oscar Issac Moon Knight Reflection

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Obviously, this is your first big Marvel thing. What ended up surprising you about working with them that perhaps you weren't expecting going in?

MOORHEAD: Well, I think everyone has this idea of a bit of a monolithic structure to Marvel where people would question like, as independent filmmakers, were we going to feel shackled or something like that. And honestly, it was just so incredibly collaborative. I think that was the big surprise. We knew that they would be collaborative. We know that they're a very best idea wins kind of company, but we didn't quite realize just how much freedom we would have.

And not just the two of us, but everybody. I mean, Oscar, and Ethan, and May had so much of a hand in the story that we're telling, not just as performers, but as writers, as storytellers. I think there was always a bit of a like, "Can we do that exactly? Can we be that strange or go that far off the rails?" Or actually even seeing WandaVision, we didn't actually know that they would commit to that crazy format, that what you would think their target audience hasn't probably even seen a black and white sitcom, but they did it. They just committed to it fully. That was really cool to find out how bold they were willing to be as long as we were the ones pushing it forward. Not just the two of us. I mean, we, all the collaborators on the project.

One of the things about Marvel, and I think the reason why people love Marvel, is that every time they make something, they just reinvent what the superhero genre can do. And that's why there's no fatigue, if you will, with Marvel properties. Can you sort of talk about that aspect?

BENSON: With Moon Knight specifically, there's an obvious thing of like, there's no reason to do Moon Knight unless you're going to be bold, that character specifically. But beyond all of that, we always felt like if we weren't being bold, if we weren't going left of center, if we weren't taking big swings, that we were missing the mark of what this universe wants from us.

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Image via Disney+

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How did you guys end up doing Episodes 2 and 4? Were you almost going to do 3 and 5? How did that get figured out?

MOORHEAD: No, actually. You know what's funny? We were already deep in the production when we talked to Mohamed. We're like, "Why do we have 2 and 4?" We were just presented with 2 and 4. Honestly, the answer is very, very boring. There was like kind of logistical calendar reasons and all of that and because... Have you've seen the episodes? Okay. So without giving things away for people who haven't, but 4 is, in many ways location wise, it's very much its own thing.

So it was able to be something that we were able to cordon off a little bit. Episodes 1 and 2 talk to each other a little bit more. But that was kind of as we were figuring out the production. Again, you'll see with 5 and 6, again, very much their own voice from each other and from the rest of the episodes. So that was pretty much why, is that each episode has its own voice and we were handed 2 and 4.

Moon Knight has obviously never been done in live action before. This is the first time he's being brought into the MCU. Do you feel like that's easier or harder when a character like this, when you sort of have free rein to create?

BENSON: It's not that it's easier or harder in terms of telling the story you want to tell with this character. What does come with it that's a little bit difficult is that it's the pressure to get it right, I suppose, is a little higher.

MOORHEAD: Yeah.

BENSON: Because it hasn't been done yet. Also with a character that is rightfully as beloved as Moon Knight, and beloved for being something different, and that comes with its own set of pressures. You just want to make sure you get it right.

MOORHEAD: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

BENSON: But in terms of telling a story using a character that doesn't have a live action pre-established mythology, that was actually, it was easier in some ways. Also, 50 years of great comic books to draw from, of inspiration, if nothing else, it could be as simple as like just a piece of artwork we loved from one that would inspire a whole shot. But yeah. I mean, I guess in some ways, it was a little bit easier him not having a live action pre-established anything.

MOORHEAD: I mean, you've seen all of our, I think, all of our independent features. All of those share a universe, so the idea of working within a shared universe comes weirdly second nature to us. But, really, it was way just more exciting. I think just very, very exciting that there were no boundaries to what he had to be, nowhere where he had to fit.

BENSON: Also having these, not only just, I mean, everyone knows that Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawk are some of the greatest actors of our generation. But they are also great novelists, and filmmakers, and screenwriters, and to be in a situation where they could take some sort of personal authorship over the creation of these live action characters, well, I mean, you've got two of the best we've got right now doing that. And so that, that was exciting.

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Image via Sundance

Before I run out of time with you, since we're talking Marvel, I might as well bring up Loki. How did you guys hook up for that?

MOORHEAD: I mean, we're still kind of even processing being handed that job. But I suppose what we can say about it is that we're really, really proud of what we've done on Moon Knight. I think that Marvel really likes what we're able to do on Moon Knight. And so we're hoping to kind of take all the lessons that we learned, which are infinite, the unbelievable amount of life experience, and craft, and art that we made in Moon Knight. And we want to take all of that and kind of bundle it back together as we lead Loki.

BENSON: Also, it's also nice to be tackling another character are in the MCU who is defined by being different than the rest of the pack and-

MOORHEAD: Another outcast. Yeah.

BENSON: They all have complexity, but these two have complexity in being outcasts, and there's something about that that feels very special and an honor to tackle.

Cool. Thank you so much, and seriously, congrats.

MOORHEAD: Take care. Thank you.

BENSON: Thank you. It was good seeing in a familiar face today.

Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+