‘Moon Knight’ director Mohamed Diab responds to Simu Liu’s criticism of the show’s Mandarin

May 6, 2022

In response to Simu Liu’s criticism of the incomprehensible Mandarin spoken in the hit Disney Plus show “Moon Knight,” filmmaker Mohamed Diab has committed to “do better.”

The action-packed series, which stars Oscar Isaac as the titular Marvel hero, has been generally well-received by viewers and critics alike.

However, a scene from the second episode was heavily criticized for its poorly pronounced and out-of-context Mandarin.

In the episode, the character Arthur Harrow, played by actor Ethan Hawke, is seen talking with one of his disciples in Mandarin. As he kicks a ball toward her, she tells him that he “will always be a loser.” Harrow responds in jest, saying, “You are dead.”

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Several Mandarin speakers, including “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star Simu Liu, took to Twitter to comment on the scene.

“Alright Arthur Harrow needs to fire his Mandarin teacher,” Liu wrote.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Diab claimed that an expert was consulted for the show. He also said he was thankful that Liu pointed out the scene’s inaccuracies.

His full statement reads: “In episode 2, Harrow was speaking Mandarin, and Simu Liu commented that this is not accurate. I wasn’t upset. I actually told him, ‘Thank you for pointing that out.’ We had an expert, and we tried to do our best. But you know what? Next time, we’re going to do better. There’s still room, if one day we’re expanding this, and I think we’re all ears. You won’t meet anyone who believes in representation and that everyone’s voice should be heard more than me. Definitely, when we have round 2 — if I’m allowed, and if there is round 2 — we’re gonna hear every comment and try to make everyone even more pleased.”

“Moon Knight,” which released its season finale this week on Disney Plus, hinted at more to come for its characters. However, Isaac himself shared that there are no plans for Season 2 yet as of this writing.

“You know, I think we approached it as ‘this is the story,’” Isaac told Radio Times. “And let’s just put everything out on the table on this story. There’s definitely no official plans to continue it. I think it would depend on what the story is.”

“That being said, I love being Steven,” he added. “I just love it. It’s just like, physically, it’s so much fun to be him. So, you know, if there was a story that really made sense, I’d be happy to be part of it.”

Feature Image via Marvel Entertainment

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