Director Chloe Zhao was aiming to make a movie bigger thanAvengers: Endgamewith her upcoming cosmic epicEternals. Marvel Studios has had a hugely successful run over the past few years, andEndgameis proof of that. As of this writing, it’s still the highest grossing movie of all time, a record that probably won’t be surpassed for quite some time now. Zhao is more than aware of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history as she is a fan first. With that being said, she wanted to push the envelope.
In a new interview,Chloé Zhaospent some time talking aboutEternals, which was originally set to open in theaters this November. The standaloneBlack Widowmovie was supposed to open in theaters back in May, but will now take theEternalsoriginal November date, pushing Zhao’s movie to early next year. The director had this to say about her first MCU adventure.
“I have such deep, strong,manga roots. I brought some of that intoEternals. And I look forward to pushing more of that marriage of East and West. How much further and bigger can we go afterEndgame? Because I’m not just making the film as a director. I’m making the film as a fan.”
Going bigger thanAvengers: Endgameis going to be a massive feat, but it’s going to happen at some point. Chloe Zhao will be introducing a bunch of new characters on the big screen, putting her in a bit of a disadvantage when compared to the Russo Brothers working with multiple characters that had, for the most part, already been introduced. With casting in mind, Zhao knew exactly what she did and did not want. She explains.
“I wanted it to reflect the world we live in. But also I wanted to put a cast together that feels like agroup of misfits. I didn’t want the jocks. I want you to walk away at the end of the movie not thinking, ‘This person is this ethnicity, that person is that nationality’. No. I want you to walk away thinking, ‘That’s a family’. You don’t think about what they represent. You see them as individuals.”
One of the bigger news elements aboutEternalsis its inclusion of the first openly gay superhero. When speaking about the work that Chloe Zhao put into the project and the LGBTQ representation, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige says that the element “was always sort of inherent in the story and the makeup of the different types of Eternals.” He continued by stating, “I think it is extremely well done, and I look forward to that level of inclusion in our future movies being less of a topic.”
For now, it looks like Marvel Studios will releaseBlack Widowin November. Christopher Nolan’sTenetis testing the waters for movie theaters all over the world to see if moviegoers are ready to head back into theaters. For now, it looks like a decent amount of people are going and excited about it, after not being able to experience a new movie in theaters since the middle of March. As long as everything goes smooth, MCU fans will get to see Chloe Zhao’sEternalsearly next year. The interview with Zhao was originally conducted byThe Hollywood Reporter.
