Moon Knight breakout star May Calamawy praised producer Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios for allowing her to play a realistic Arab character in the latest Disney+ hit show. Talking to Elle about her role as the adventurous archeologist Layla El-Faouly, Calamawy was happy to say she could use her Egyptian-Palestinian heritage to stir the production away from stereotypes.
Moon Knight has been mesmerizing fans with its tale of a man who suffers from DID (Oscar Isaac) and who’s supposedly blessed with superpowers by the Egyptian Moon God, Khonshu. Sometimes the show flirts with psychological horror, while it pays homage to classic adventure films such as Brendan Fraser-led The Mummy in other moments. But whenever Calamawy shows up, the star steals the spotlight with her refreshing characterization of an Egyptian archeological thief. While having an Arab background undoubtedly helped Calamawy remain faithful to the culture she represents on the show, the star reveals that she has to intervene during Moon Knight's production to make sure everyone would avoid stereotypes. As Calamawy tells it:
“Anytime I felt uncomfortable, I would go talk to [director Mohamed Diab] and his wife and I love how Kevin Feige gave us the freedom to share that, let people know, ‘This is not what it’s like, if we do that it’s gonna be a stereotype. I realized quite early on this is a space where my voice was going to be heard and that’s the best feeling.”
Besides being vocal about her concerns, Calamawy also had to avoid the pitfall of mimicking Western’s most famous gravedigger, Lara Croft, played by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander in two different iterations of the character in theaters. As Calamawy puts it, she made an effort to draw inspiration from real Arab women instead of just copying a well-established Western icon. In Calamawy’s words:
“I was careful not to draw inspiration from someone in the West because they want me to bring my side. In the Middle East, I find women have such a soft strength to them. And I was like, ‘How can I bring this to her? Why should I sit and copy what I think Angelina Jolie would do?’ Every woman I know is a bunch of dichotomies, and I wanted to bring that.”
Calamawy work in front and behind the cameras was very successful, as she shone every time she appeared. And while Isaac’s take on the vigilante is unprecedented, some of us would not be too sad if Khonshu got what he wanted and Layla El-Faouly became the next Moon Knight. Just an idea, Marvel, Calamawy would rock as the gender-bent version of the antihero.
New episodes of Moon Knight come exclusively to Disney+ every Wednesday.