The Director of Disney and Marvel’s upcoming series Moon Knight, Mohamed Diab has called out Wonder Woman 1984’s depiction of Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian mythology plays a big part in the origins of Moon Knight, so naturally Egypt will be a big presence in the series.
However, Diab promises Egypt in Moon Knight will not be like other Hollywood depictions.
“In my pitch, there was a big part about Egypt, and how inauthentically it has been portrayed throughout Hollywood’s history,” Diab told SFX Magazine. “It’s always exotic. We call it orientalism. It dehumanizes us. We are always naked, we are always sexy, we are always bad, we are always over the top.”
Love Film & TV?
Get the latest Film & TV news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“You never see Cairo. You always see Jordan shot for Cairo, Morocco shot for Cairo, sometimes Spain shot for Cairo. This really angers us.”
A recent example Diab highlights is Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. In the sequence, Wonder Woman fights her way through a high-speed vehicle chase.
Watch the scene below:
Undeniably, the scene is exciting. But Diab has issues with how the country is portrayed.
“I remember seeing Wonder Woman 1984 and there was a big sequence in Egypt, and it was a disgrace for us. You had a sheik – that doesn’t make any sense to us. Egypt looked like a country from the Middle Ages. It looked like the desert.”
Diab says Moon Knight will be different and will embrace the authentic beauty of Egypt.
“It’s part of the comic book [and] how he gets his powers. It’s ingrained in it.”
“There was definitely room to play, but [we wanted to] keep it as authentic as possible, in the realm of being fantastical. Even in the original comic books they did a great job of researching and trying to make Egypt authentic.”
Moon Knight stars Oscar Issac as the troubled Marc Spector/Moon Knight and Ethan Hawke as the menacing Athur Harrow.
The synopsis reads: ‘A former U.S Marine, struggling with dissociative identity disorder, is granted powers of an Egyptian moon god. But he soon finds out that these newfound powers can be both a blessing and a curse to his troubled life.’
The first episode of Moon Knight will drop on 30th March, 2022 on Disney+
Check out the trailer below!
