Eternals was one of the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movies truly torn apart by the internet. It seems all of the negative reviews affected Kumail Nanjiani, who had to start therapy after the project was released.
Almost everyone thought Eternals would be exactly what the MCU was missing. Directed by Oscar winner Chloe Zhao and starring the likes of Barry Keoghan and Gemma Chan in a historical epic, Eternals seemed destined for glory. However, when the film came out, it was lambasted by critics. This came as a surprise to Marvel as well as star Kumail Nanjiani, who had to start counseling to reevaluate how he approaches his work:
“It was really, really hard because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted,” Nanjiani explained on the Inside Of You podcast.
“I think there was some weird soup in the atmosphere for why that movie got slammed so much, and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie,” he continued. “It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore. Some shit has to change, so I started counseling. I still talk to my therapist about that.”
“Emily says that I do have trauma from it,” he finished. “We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, ‘That was tough, wasn’t it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough,’ and I think we all went through something similar,”
While many fans are starting to come around to Eternals in hindsight, it still remains one of the most divisive MCU films. It’s certainly understandable that Kumail Nanjiani has some residual trauma from the experience given how much the internet tore the film to shreds. Hopefully, the actor has the chance to redeem his Marvel career sometime in the future.
Are The Eternals Over?
While Patton Oswalt previously reported that Chloe Zhao would return to direct a sequel, there is currently no news about a potential sequel to Eternals. Marvel Studios has also set most of their release dates for the following phase up to Avengers: Secret Wars, making a sequel anytime soon unlikely.
Chloé Zhao directed Eternals from a script she co-wrote with Patrick Burleigh, Kaz Firpo, and Ryan Firpo. The cast of the Marvel Studios project includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena.
Eternals is available to own on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD and also to stream on Disney Plus. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the future of the MCU, and subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content!