Marvel’s Moon Knight will be influenced by the works of Steven Spielberg, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and horror movies like The Descent and The Exorcist, directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead revealed recently. The six-episode limited series, which stars Oscar Isaac as the titular antihero Marc Spector/Moon Knight, will debut on Disney+ on March 30. Early reviews have confirmed what Kevin Feige and the rest of the cast of Moon Knight have been saying about the show: it’s one of Marvel’s most unique series yet.

Developed by Jeremy Slater, Moon Knight is directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab, alongside Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. The director duo has also been tapped to direct Loki season 2 after impressing Marvel with their work on Moon Knight. In a recent interview with Slashfilm, Benson and Moorhead discussed the films that influenced the style and tone of Moon Knight, with Benson saying,

Kevin Feige previously likened Moon Knight’s tone to the Indiana Jones films, but Benson and Moorhead also tried to incorporate Spielberg’s filmmaking style into the show. The Jaws director is known for his use of long takes and tracking shots, and Moon Knight’s trailers and TV spots also tease similarly fluid camera movements with minimal cuts. Benson also cited the filmmaking style of Children of Men as an inspiration.

“We actually went to a lot of different things about people who are struggling with identity, but even as lofty as something like ‘Persona.’ In terms of the camera work, it was a bit of a combination of the legendary moving master shots that Spielberg does. Of course, as a filmmaker, you reference Spielberg and you think, ‘He’s a master for a reason.’ So we’re watching ‘War of the Worlds’ and seeing how he’s able to develop a wide into an insert into a closeup and all that. It’s not just, ‘Wow, how clever.’ What it does is it lets you establish character without cutting so much. That was something that was really important to us, and really important to Mohamed.”

Moon Knight Will Be Edgier Than Other Marvel Shows

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Moon Knight isn’t a typical Marvel superhero, and due to his brutality, he often acts as an antihero. As per Kevin Feige, the upcoming series won’t be watered down either. Aaron Moorhead also mentioned three horror-tinged films that were often talked about during filming.

While The Descent is a brutal and terrifying survival horror film, and The Exorcist is more of a traditional horror film, featuring priests and demonic possessions, Free Solo is a documentary about Alex Honnold’s rope-free climb of the El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Although not a horror film, Free Solo will be a nightmarish experience for people with a fear of heights. It remains to be seen how these films have influenced Moon Knight, but we can assume Marc Spector’s distorted sense of reality will somehow factor into it.

“Also I’ll give you three more sort of references or titles that came up a lot on set, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to say exactly why, because we’d be ruining it for everyone. But I think it’s interesting to hear. ‘The Descent,’ ‘Free Solo,’ and the opening scene of ‘The Exorcist.’ They were all brought up a lot.”

Moon Knight streams exclusively on Disney+ from March 30.