'Moon Knight' star Oscar Isaac says his uncle who has 'mental-health issues' cried and 'felt seen' w

July 2024 ยท 2 minute read
2022-03-31T22:27:13Z

"Moon Knight" star Oscar Isaac told Esquire that his uncle cried when he first watched the show.

In the new Disney+ series, Isaac plays the titular character, who has dissociative identity disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes DID as a psychiatric disorder in which a person shows at least two individual identities or personality states that can manifest through the person's behavior.

During an Esquire profile about his life and career, Isaac revealed that his uncle felt "seen" when watching the show ahead of its premiere.

"My uncle suffered with mental-health issues," the "Dune" actor said. "He started crying watching an episode of 'Moon Knight' because, I think, it just felt like being seen. There was something there that felt like an acknowledgment of the pain and what people do with pain, and the forgiveness, of how you forgive yourself, and how to come to terms with the child within you."

Oscar Isaac in "Moon Knight." Disney+

In the first episode, which hit the streamer on Wednesday, Isaac's character Steven Grant becomes aware of his disorder and interacts with one of his alters, the term for individual identities within a person with DID. At one point, the show puts you in the position of Steven by cutting in and out of action scenes when another alter takes over. 

Isaac told Esquire that the show celebrates "the power of the human mind." 

"It's basically saying, We have a superpower and it's the human brain, particularly for those who deal with trauma and sustained abuse," Isaac said. "There's this thing that the brain can do to allow them to survive."

New episodes of  "Moon Knight" are released weekly on Wednesdays on Disney+.

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