‘Moon Knight’ directors explain how the MCU compares to their indie background

You’d think that helming an MCU project where every sequence literally costs millions of dollars would change your perspective on filmmaking, but that apparently hasn’t been the case for Moon Knight directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who have recently talked about their experience working on the latest Marvel series for Disney Plus.

In a recent interview with The Wrap, the two collaborative partners revealed that making an MCU show isn’t that different from developing an independent film when it comes down to it.

“Fortunately, we were surprised to find that there was very little learning curve. Because the process of filmmaking is the same, no matter how much your budget is, your own process. You do it and there’s kind of the same stuff, right? You have a shot list, you have a camera, you call action, you call cut, you work with the actors. And so all the same, if you took an MRI of our brains, making an indie film and making a Marvel film, they kind of all light up the same. Obviously, there’s a little bit more problem solving because money can’t solve anything in indie film, but it felt the same. Really, it was just the same questions: How do we make this effective? What is the character doing? That sort of thing.

Besides Mohamed Diab, who’s an executive producer on the show and has directed four episodes, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have helmed the remaining two outings, including the one we just saw this week, featuring the long-awaited debut of Mr. Knight as Steven Grant’s alter ego.

Benson and Moorhead will continue their MCU journey with the second season of Loki, so we can expect their directorial influence to find its way to the God of Mischief’s next run as well.