As Moon Knight finally debuts in the Middle East with the launch of Disney+ in the region, the show’s key creative voices are in the middle of a victory lap. After all, in the two months since its debut internationally, the show has quickly become a cult favourite in the Marvel fandom, with audiences the world over praising it for its unique perspective, authentic representation of Egypt and Egyptian people, stand out storytelling and performances from stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy, and of course, its absolutely stunning score from Egypt’s greatest contemporary film composer, Hesham Nazih.
Nazih, who has scored over 40 films, winning awards that no other composer had won before in the process, is now finally being discovered by the rest of the world. TikTok, Spotify and YouTube has embraced different moments from what he brought to Moon Knight, and while it definitely contains Nazih’s Egyptian spirit, it is a score as timeless and universal as any—something Nazih himself made a point to capture.
Marvel was thrilled with his work, the series’ director Mohamed Diab revealed to Esquire Middle East recently.
“Marvel loved Hesham, for example. I’m sure they’re going to work with him again,” Diab told us.
To celebrate the show’s Middle East release, Esquire Middle East spoke with Nazih from his studio in Cairo to talk about his creative process, his love for the show, the proudest moment of his career, and whether he wants to work with Marvel in the future.
Read our conversation with Hesham Nazih here:
Great meeting you Hesham. Where are you now, in your studio?
Yeah, this is my working space, this is where I spend most of the time. It’s about 10 minutes from my house, in the same neighborhood, but I still have another room here where I can sleep over, or crash for an hour or two before I get up and start working again. There’s no time to get home and back, and it depends on the project.
I would love to work with Marvel again, though. They are truly amazing people.
Hesham Nazih
What’s studio life like when you’re fully in the thick of it?
Sometimes I stay here for one month, sometimes it’s six months. Not always with the same intensity, though. For the first month, I will get weekends with my family. For the second month I will skip one weekend and then catch up with them the next, and the fourth fifth and sixth month, there will be no time to sleep.
Congratulations on the reception to both Moon Knight and your score. It feels like love this show more than any other Marvel show. It really holds a special place in people’s hearts and I think that’s down to the direction, the acting, its unique perspective, and of course your gorgeous score.
Thank you for saying that. You read comments and tweets and messages that this is the best Marvel show, but it still doesn’t feel like a reality, I haven’t proessed it. But yes, people love the show, the story, the atmosphere. I think what’s really amazing about the show is that people love the sense of adventure that they were used to. This time it has been presented to them differently, in an unusual tone that they didn’t expect.
The nature of the characters, the performances, the actors were amazing. Both Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke were tremendous, and Ethan especially was a villain who you actually want to listen to.
And it was wonderful to see Egypt represented properly!
Absolutely. It’s amazing how they built up Cairo and Egypt. The atmosphere of Cairo is the actual atmosphere of Cairo. They build up Cairo and Egypt with a passion, and the details are real. I live in Cairo, I know these spots, I know the slums of Cairo, and they absolutely captured it. It’s not the famous spots or bits of the city. And yes, I will admit the music may be part of it, too.
How did you connect with it to get to the point where you felt you could score it from an emotional place?
It’s so easy to relate to these characters. You can get really invested just looking at the upbringing of Marc Spector and his background. The trauma he went through, what his mother did to him, it all makes you feel for him. Giving this my heart really wasn’t a hard task, really.
As a fan of the show yourself, what were your favourite moments to score?
There are so many great moments. One was the end of the first episode, when we first saw Moon Knight. This was the moment for me when I said to myself, oh, this is happening. I’m writing music for a superhero.
Another was at the end of the third episode, Khonshu is messing with the stars and the skies, and battles the other deities. It has such an epic feeling to it.
What challenged you about it?
The most difficult part of writing for this how is to keep the musical compass through it all, because it jumps very quickly from one situation to another. It jumps from a very intense moment to a very comical moment, and then an adventurous moment, and then all of a sudden something is shocking. You need to keep the momentum and keep the pace musically. This was really challenging.
I’m sure the constant tonal shifts brought everything you’ve done in your career into play—the ultimate masterclass in a sense.
This music needed to have a very thin pathway from one genre to another. It had to be versatile, and able to deliver to all these different senses. Nothing else had ever made me focus that much on flow, and keep the dynamics while also keeping it upbeat all the way until the end.
When did you first know you wanted to do this?
When I was maybe nine or ten years old, watching old movies on our small television set. I didn’t even know what I was experiencing, with time I learned that it’s called film music. I didn’t know it was music tailored to the films. I didn’t know how that was possible. I thought how difficult it must be. At one point, I even believed that while they were filming an orchestra mus be playing along! It wasn’t until I was 24 that I booked my first gig.
What’s the moment you’re most proud of, outside of Moon Knight?
A year and a half ago, I wrote music for this parade, though it wasn’t filmed. It was a parade that took place in the streets of Cairo as they transported the mummies of 22 kings and queens from the old museum to the new ones. I made maybe 50 minutes of music and songs for this parade, which was performed by a grand orchestra and choir. The feedback across the country was huge. People were really emotional about it. That’s the moment when I felt that I’d done something that made people feel something more than just listening to music. The music made them feel more attached to their home country, to their identity.
Is there more Marvel work in your future?
There’s nothing I can say about that now, there’s no plans for my future. I’m still reflecting on what happened, trying to digest it and enjoy it. It was fantastic to do this work. I would love to work with Marvel again, though. They are truly amazing people.
Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+ in the Middle East