The Moon Knight actress opens up about playing Marc Spectors wife, Layla El-Faouly.
Fortunately for both Marc and Steven, they have an unexpected ally in their adventures.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What do you remember most about theMoon Knightaudition process?
May Calamawy and Oscar Isaac in ‘Moon Knight’.Marvel Studios
I asked my manager if it was real because you get a lot of weird stuff on Instagram!
There wasn’t much information about it."
So, I had fun with it.
She was like, “Have you heard anything?”
I was like, “No.”
She says, “Alright.
Well, I have.
You got it.”
And then we both cried on the phone.
[Laughs] My boyfriend was also there, and he cried.
It was really cute.
Was there anything that surprised you about joining the Marvel world?
I didn’t know how much free reign we were going to get to be able to collaborate.
But I realized that Mohamed and his wife Sarah were huge champions of Layla.
She was the channel for which we were representing Egypt.
When I got there, I was so intimidated working with Oscar and Ethan.
They have such a certainty about them, and they trust how they feel about something.
They have all these ideas, which I’m sure they pull from other things they’ve done.
And I’m just like, “Ahh!”
because this is really new for me.
I want to be offering all these ideas."
Finally, I was like, “You know what?
I haven’t been in 50 movies.
I haven’t done what they’ve done.
I’m here to learn from them.”
What was your most memorable day on set with Oscar Isaac?
In the beginning, I was very intimidated, and I was just trying to act cool.
It’s not good for your acting when you’re trying to act anything.
You should really just be honest about where you are at every moment.
Finally, I started to admit, “Yeah, okay, I’m a little scared.
Okay, fine, I’mveryscared.
And I don’t want to mess anything up.”
There’s a lot going on in this split second."
He completely directed me in that moment.
It just came out so easily, and it felt so nice and effortless.
It was just very generous.
The desert was also unreal.
The desert doesn’t get old, but it was a familiar space.
That’s so cool.
I definitely didn’t know my way around the desert!
[Laughs] But I know what you mean.
Usually, I’m on the flip side.
I’m usually in the West, filming over there.
You share scenes in episode 3 with Gaspard Ulliel, who sadlypassed away earlier this year.
What stands out to you the most when you think back to working with him?
It’s still such a shock.
It’s the true definition of a tragedy when I think of Gaspard.
He was so friendly and warm.
It was fun to work off of him because he gave so much.
He spoke about his family a lot, especially his son.
So my love goes out to them.
Thinking aboutMoon Knightoverall, what do you think was your biggest challenge?
I had to really learn to trust myself in this space.
That was a really great space to be in.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
