Marvel: Kumail Nanjian was very affected by the poor reviews of The Eternals

It can’t be said that Marvel was proud to send Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao to put her at the helm of The Eternals, which was supposed to open a new part of the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to the adventures of the group. superheroes still unknown to the audience; But certainly less comic book fans.

Released in 2021, in a still very uncertain context related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the film underperformed at the international box office, grossing just over $400 million. On the production scale of Marvel Studios, which is used to spending billions, this is a bitter failure.

It must also be said that the fate of the film abroad was quite troubled, between censorship and the retaliatory measures of the Beijing authorities, who did not appreciate that the director let go in an interview about his previous film, Nomadland, that. “China is a country where lies are everywhere”…

“The reviews were bad and I was well aware of it”

In the last podcast, Inside You with Michael Rosenbaum, actor Kumail Nanjian, who plays the character of Kingo in the film, exudes some confidence. The comedy-accustomed actor, who was not hesitated by the director to write his comic lines, says that he was greatly affected by the criticism of the film, before it affected his mental health.

“The reviews were bad and I was well aware of it” He confides; “I was reading all the reviews and doing a lot of watching. It was really, really hard because Marvel thought the movie was really well-reviewed, so they lifted the embargo. Very early and has been screened at some pretty big film festivals; And they sent us on a world tour to promote the film properly because the embargo was lifted.

I think there was a sort of strangeness to the atmosphere that explains why this film was so critically panned, and I think it has little to do with the actual quality of the film. It was really hard and that’s when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to Emily and I can’t approach my work like that anymore. Something stupid had to change, so I started counseling. I always talk to my therapist about it. “