In recent years, Hungary has climbed to the top of the film industry as more and more super-productions are being filmed in Hungary. Take for example the recently premiered Moon Knight, one of the latest series of MCU’s Phase Four.
The series released on Disney + is a live-action adaptation of the comic book superhero Moon Knight played by Oscar Isaac. The series follows the human Marc Spector, a former mercenary left dead in a tomb in Sudan who resurrected to become the champion of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu.
A fun fact about the character is that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID) and has multiple personas, such as Marc Spector / Moon Knight and Steven Grant / Mr. Knight as well as a couple of others. According to Findthatlocation, when some of these characters’ personalities collided, Oscar Isaac’s brother was also drafted in for the shots.
Locations
Findthatlocation reports that while the story is set in London, a German town and Egypt, a number of scenes were shot elsewhere; for instance, many London scenes were actually filmed in Hungary while Jordan also substituted for Egyptian locations. Here is where some of the scenes were shot in Hungary:
The Museum
Steven portrayed by Oscar Isaac works in the British Museum, but the stand-in for the real location in the UK was the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest located in the heart of the Hungarian capital.
Although the Hungarian museum is not a 100% accurate match, it is quite a good substitute; the columns almost look alike, and the sculpted façade also shows some similarities. With a few computer tweaks and a bit of CGI, the two buildings look like twins.
London Streets
The opening scene of the brand-new series was filmed at Anker köz, in district VI., which leads to Király utca (Király Street) one of the most popular restaurant and shopping hotspots in the capital. It is located close to Saint Stephen’s Basilica, a major tourist attraction in Budapest. In the movie, this venue mimics the corner of Bloomsbury Way and Museum Street, Finthatlocation wrote.
Not far from the previous filming location is Madách Imre tér (Madách Imre Square), which appears in Episode 1 in the night sequence scene.
German town
The town where the character ends up is supposedly Szentendre’s Fő tér (the Main Square of Szentendre). The city is a beloved tourist destination frequented by both foreigners and locals. It has been previously featured in the Netflix drama, Shadow and Bone.
Church
One of the most iconic locations in Budapest’s Városliget (City Park) is the Castle of Vajdahunyad. It grabs the attention of many tourists and photographers for its scenic view and beautiful architecture but it has also been home to some memorable scenes in recent movie history. Jáki kápolna (Jáki Chapel) is part of the same complex as the Castle of Vajdahunyad, which might be familiar to people who have seen the episode of Netflix’s Witcher from season one in which the protagonist, Geralt is talking to the wizard, Stregobor.
In Moon Knight, however, this location is depicted as a churchyard with a pyramid in the middle during a spooky scene from the brand-new series.
Another suspected location is the Kiscelli Museum in Budapest; speculates Findthatlocation. It cannot be ruled out that this museum served as the real-life location of the “evil magician’s man cave” from episode two of the six-episode series.