Moon Knight Actor Was Approached By Marvel First On Instagram
Warning! Contains mild spoilers for Moon Knight episode 3
Moon Knight star, May Calamawy reveals that she got the part of Layla El-Faouly after receiving an Instagram DM asking her to audition. Moon Knight is the latest Marvel series to debut on Disney+, joining the likes of WandaVision, Loki and Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The MCU series sees Oscar Isaac star as Marc Spector and Steven Grant, two alters within a DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) system, who are able to transform into the vigilante Moon Knight, following a deal made with the Egyptian god, Khonshu. The series also welcomes Ethan Hawke to the MCU as the series’ antagonist, Arthur Harrow.
Moon Knight episode 2 introduced audiences to Layla, who was revealed to be Marc’s wife, however, audiences quickly discovered that Marc had been seeking to divorce Layla in an attempt to keep her safe from Khonshu and the dangers that come with being Moon Knight. Episode 3 offered a little more insight into Layla’s character, an archaeologist with a mysterious past, with it then later revealed by Harrow that her father was murdered, teasing her potential motivations as the series now progresses. Now, Calamawy has opened up about how she came to secure the role of Layla, revealing that an unexpected message on Instagram started it all.
In conversation with EW, Calamawy was asked about the audition process for Moon Knight, and detailed how she initially caught the attention of the series’ director, Mohamed Diab’s wife Sarah Goher, who is also credited as consulting producer for the show. Calamawy revealed that she received a DM on Instagram from Goher, which mentioned that Diab was interested in Calamawy for an upcoming Marvel project, leading the star to consult her manager and question the authenticity of the message. After confirming that the DM was in fact genuine, Calamawy secured an audition for the role and the rest is history. Check out Calamawy’s full quote below.
Mohamed Diab's wife Sarah messaged me on Instagram, like, "My husband's interested in you for this Marvel show." I asked my manager if it was real — because you get a lot of weird stuff on Instagram! She did some fishing, and she's like, "Okay, it's real, and I got you an audition. There wasn't much information about it.”
The star went on to say that her approach to the audition was simply to have fun with it, as she didn’t know what to expect having only received minimal information on what exactly the role entailed. Calamawy also discussed how Diab took a much more collaborative approach to her character than she was expecting, sharing that the director and his wife were both “huge champions of Layla.” Few details are known about Calamawy’s character and how she will ultimately impact the series, however, Moon Knight’s producer, Grant Curtis recently revealed that Layla will have some ties to the original Moon Knight comics.
Given that roles within the Marvel universe are often highly coveted by actors, it's interesting and certainly sweet to hear that Calamawy was approached directly as it's clear that Diab immediately felt as though she would be perfect for the role of Layla. Having now been given a little more background on her character, audiences cannot wait to learn more about Layla and her story as the series progresses, particularly after Khonshu's threats to make Layla his next avatar, should Marc fail him. For now, it seems that Diab and his wife made a fantastic choice in approaching Calamawy for Moon Knight as audiences can't get enough of this exciting new MCU character.
Source: EW