Kumail Nanjiani On How Filming ‘Star Wars’ Differs From Marvel

Kumail Nanjiani will be featured in 'Obi-Wan Kenobi!'

Kumail Nanjiani Star Wars Marvel

Kumail Nanjiani shared the differences between working on Star Wars compared to Marvel sets.

Actor Kumail Nanjiani is one of the many actors that are part of the ensemble of Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars event series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is the latest big franchise outing for the actor, who also recently made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Eternals.

With Obi-Wan Kenobi nearing its long-awaited premiere on Disney Plus, Kumail Nanjiani was recently interviewed by Entertainment Weekly. Naturally, he was asked about the opportunity to work on both franchises, and shared the many differences between Star Wars and Marvel:

“I think with Star Wars, the difference was… Obviously working on Eternals, it’s the MCU. Everyone’s such a fan of the MCU, but we are sort of working with new characters, right? The people don’t really know these characters and don’t really know this part of the MCU. So it’s a new universe that’s being created as you’re going. With Star Wars, you’re really stepping into something that has been established for a very long time. It still is the same visual language, people know these characters.

So, to me, the thing that sets Star Wars apart from really any other job I’ve done is how the entire crew was a massive fan of Star Wars. Every day, people would wear Star Wars clothes, T-shirts with Chewbacca on them. And just everyone was really, really every single day excited to be working on Star Wars. And I’ve never done a job where every single day you could feel that everyone was grateful to be there.

I would go into work and they’d be like, ‘Oh, you know what we did yesterday? We did this. And then we did this, and then we did this.’ And everyone was just really excited to go to work every day. This is stuff that everybody’s loved since they can remember, and the fact that they get to work on it was not lost on this crew. So the joy of it for the crew really was unique and special.”

The influence of Star Wars on filmmakers is almost unmatched.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become perhaps the biggest franchise in the world at this point. Whether it’d be the successful films, or their numerous TV series on Disney Plus, it has become the big man on campus. However, Kumail Nanjiani wasn’t wrong when he mentioned that the legacy of Star Wars is felt amongst the crew of Obi-Wan Kenobi. So much so, that it’s hard to distance oneself from its massive influence.

It will be fun to see how Kumail Nanjiani’s role in Obi-Wan Kenobi will differ from Eternals. After all, the sensibilities of both franchises are quite different from each other, but Nanjiani is known for his comedic performances, so perhaps he will be able to showcase them even further with this new series.

Be sure to continue following Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news on Kumail Nanjiani’s role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as his future in Marvel movies. Also, subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Source: EW

Noah Villaverde

Noah Villaverde

Cinema lover. Saxophone player. Coffee consumer. Chronic complainer. Oh, I also write. #TeamHeroic