{"id":9704,"date":"2022-01-08T10:04:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T09:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1545385"},"modified":"2022-01-08T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T09:28:10","slug":"eternals-director-chloe-zhao-reveals-moment-shes-proudest-of-in-mcu-film","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/eternals-director-chloe-zhao-reveals-moment-shes-proudest-of-in-mcu-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Eternals director Chloe Zhao reveals moment she\u2019s proudest of in MCU film"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Emma Simmonds\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 08 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Director Chlo\u00e9 Zhao is known for making beautifully humane films that blur the line between reality and fiction, including 2017\u2019s The Rider and last year\u2019s multiple Oscar-winning Nomadland. So she probably wouldn\u2019t be the first person to spring to mind if you were asked to appoint the director of another addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yet, while she\u2019s still coming to terms with her 2021 Academy Award (she\u2019s only the second woman in history to win the best director prize, after Kathryn Bigelow), Zhao admits she does indeed love a superhero, and was thrilled to take the reins on the hugely ambitious Eternals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my goodness, it\u2019s such an honour,\u201d says Zhao, who names two Captain America films, 2014\u2019s The Winter Soldier and 2016\u2019s Civil War, as her favourites from the MCU to date. \u201cBut it\u2019s also a lot of pressure, because I did come in as a fan, so you want to make sure you do right by the fans but also move the MCU forward. We\u2019re in a transitional time after the Infinity Saga and you don\u2019t want to play it safe, you want to look at these films and ask, how can we deconstruct and redefine everything we think about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eternals certainly does that, with some mind-blowing revelations. It\u2019s the tale of the titular superhero team, a race of immortal beings who have been quietly watching over Earth for thousands of years after ridding it of their enemies, the Deviants. Led by Salma Hayek\u2019s healer Ajak, the group also includes Angelina Jolie\u2019s mentally fragile warrior Thena, Richard Madden\u2019s Superman-like Ikaris and Gemma Chan\u2019s empathetic manipulator of matter Sersi, who comes to the fore as the story progresses.<\/p>

So how does this film link to the others in the MCU? \u201cThe story is triggered when half the Earth\u2019s population is brought back in Avengers: Endgame,\u201d says Zhao. \u201cThe return of half of the planet is a big ecological event and there are consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes Eternals stand out from other superhero films is its diverse ensemble, with Zhao affectionately branding them a band of \u201cmisfits\u201d and as \u201cimmigrants from another planet who can\u2019t go home\u201d. Eternals also features both a gay superhero (Brian Tyree Henry\u2019s inventor Phastos) and a deaf superhero (Lauren Ridloff\u2019s lightning-fast Makkari), while it\u2019s the female characters who assume leadership roles. \u201cThese individuals are allowed to exist as themselves; they just happen to look a certain way, love a certain way, communicate a certain way. Hopefully you\u2019ll not only see yourself on screen but those who are very different from you, and you\u2019ll relate to that person\u2019s pain, even though you look more like the person standing next to them. It\u2019s a quiet power, but I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was it like working with the biggest star of the group, Angelina Jolie? \u201cI was nervous at first, anyone would be. I\u2019d admired her from afar pretty much my whole life,\u201d the 39-year-old Zhao confesses. \u201cBut because she makes films herself and they often take place in harsh places in the world, she really understood what I was trying to do. Angie is playing the physically strongest character, but Thena is broken inside and in order to have that vulnerability she shared a lot of who she is and what she\u2019s gone through in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Due to COVID-related delays, Eternals hit cinemas just months after Zhao\u2019s previous film Nomadland<\/a>, a project that was brought to her by its lead actor Frances McDormand, someone she feels is now a friend for life. McDormand is a legend but seems formidable: how was she to direct? \u201cLike what I was talking about in terms of working with Angie, Fran is so brave,\u201d she says proudly. \u201cThese actresses defy some of the Hollywood constraint that\u2019s been put on them. They just let the camera in, they\u2019re not hiding anything, and that\u2019s the strongest thing they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When asked what it was like to experience such success at the 2021 Academy Awards, where Nomadland picked up three gongs including best picture, there\u2019s a certain amount of surprise in Zhao\u2019s voice, as if she\u2019s looking back on something she can\u2019t quite believe happened. \u201cBecause of the pandemic it was the first time we were allowed to be in a space with people for a long time and, because we weren\u2019t allowed to bring anybody, it was just mainly the film-makers, so it was almost like going to a small film festival,\u201d she recalls fondly. \u201cIt was incredible. Incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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