The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Eternals is set to introduce a new set of characters from the comics. Nomadland director Chloé Zhao had been hired to lead the project. In a recent interview, Zhao explained the great risk Marvel Studios is taking. Eternal by letting her shoot the action scenes on the spot rather than on a soundstage in front of a green screen as is their usual practice.
“Well I think it’s so boring you’re going to roll your eyes, but I think Marvel, I think this movie is very – I think they took a big risk with this one. I think they will surprise I hope so… I think this is where Marvel really took the risk that we knew we wanted to film on location, because by photographing wide angle lenses on locations it will affect the way you produce visual effects. how you do the action. There are a lot of things that will be felt and look different. We mainly shot on stage, but I like being on stage, learning technology, because I grew up with manga. I always imagined that I wanted to be a manga. So for me, I’ve always imagined things that don’t exist. ”
Zhao’s reference to manga comics is interesting because they have a very distinct style from traditional Western comics. In a previous interview, Chloe Zhao cited The Revenant as another major source of inspiration for Eternals when it came to filming the action scenes on location.
“I think for the action sequences, which I had such a great time working on with such a great team, I really wanted to refer to The Revenant. The Revenant is a movie that I love so much. And I think we’ve watched The Revenant so many times, at every meeting when we get to our action sequences because most of that footage is shot on location. And I love how much you feel the dash and the sequences in The Revenant. It really is a film that we aspire to. And Marvel really, really supported that idea and really embraced it. ”
It will be interesting to see how Zhao is able to combine aesthetics as different as the manga comics and The Revenant while telling a new story within the MCU formula. For now, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Eternals , which has already been pushed back a lot, along with the solo Black Widow movie.
Directed by Chloe Zhao, Eternals stars a main cast consisting of Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Barry Keoghan as Druig and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman / Black Knight. The film hits theaters on November 5, 2021.
