Eternals (film)

Director Chloé Zhao promoting Eternals at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in April 2018 that the studio was actively developing a film based on the Marvel comic book series Eternals, created by Jack Kirby, to release in their Phase Four slate of films. Marvel had met with multiple screenwriters, and was believed to be focusing on the character Sersi.[18] Marvel set Kaz and Ryan Firpo to write the script a month later,[19] with their outline including a love story between the characters Sersi and Ikaris.[20] In June, Feige said Marvel was interested in exploring the "ancient aliens kind of sci-fi trope" of the Eternals being the inspiration for myths and legends throughout the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).[21]

During late August, Marvel's director search for Eternals narrowed to a shortlist that included Chloé Zhao—who had also been in the running to direct Marvel's Black Widow (2021)—Nicole Kassell, Travis Knight, and the pair of Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra.[20] Zhao approached Marvel Studios about making the film as she had been a fan of the MCU and wanted to work with them to bring her own take to the franchise with world-building,[22] and was chosen to direct the film a month later,[20][23] after impressing Marvel with a presentation that included "reams of visuals" to convey her pitch for the film. Feige called her pitch "fascinating", and said the vision she brought to the film was one of the reasons Zhao was hired.[24] The presentation left Marvel concerned she might take on a different big-studio project instead, forcing them to move quickly to secure her.[20][23] Zhao hoped to push the film "further and bigger" after Avengers: Endgame (2019), and wanted to bring her love of manga to the project to make it "more of that marriage of East and West".[24] As well, she wanted both "scope and scale" and "intimacy" with the film.[25]

Marvel considered Eternals to be a "perfect transition" into its next phase of films along with projects such as Captain Marvel (2019),[23] allowing the studio to cast a diverse group of actors to portray the various Eternals.[20] In February 2019, Feige reiterated that Marvel was interested in the characters due to Kirby's "immense, amazing epic with Eternals that spans tens of thousands of years" in the comics; because they wanted to create more ensemble films "from the start" like Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), rather than building to an ensemble crossover like The Avengers (2012); and to introduce widely unknown characters to audiences as they did with the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.[26]

Angelina Jolie joined the cast in March 2019, reportedly as Sersi,[27][28] with Kumail Nanjiani and Don Lee cast in undisclosed roles the next month.[28][29] At that time, the film was expected to feature Marvel Studios' first gay superhero.[30] In May, Richard Madden entered negotiations for the role of Ikaris,[31] and by the following month, Salma Hayek had entered early negotiations for an undisclosed role.[32] In July, Variety reported that the cast included Jolie, Madden, and Millie Bobby Brown,[33] but Brown quickly denied that she had been cast.[34]

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Feige officially announced the film with a release date of November 6, 2020. He confirmed the casting of Jolie as Thena, Nanjiani as Kingo, Lee as Gilgamesh, Madden as Ikaris, and Hayek as Ajak, and also announced the casting of Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, and Lia McHugh as Sprite.[35] Feige added that one of these actors was portraying an LGBTQ character,[36] with actor Haaz Sleiman later revealing that Phastos is depicted as gay, with Sleiman portraying the character's husband. The pair have a child in the film. Sleiman felt it was important to depict "how loving and beautiful a queer family can be" rather than the "sexual or rebellious" depiction in some previous media.[12] Feige said the relationship was "always sort of inherent in the story" and he felt it was "extremely well done" in the film,[24] while Sleiman called it "thoughtful".[17]

By the film's official announcement in July 2019, principal photography had begun at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.[6][37] Ben Davis served as director of photography, after doing so on several previous MCU films.[38] The following month, Gemma Chan and Barry Keoghan were in talks to join the cast.[16][39] Chan previously portrayed Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, but reports noted that she was potentially being looked at by Marvel to play a separate character in this film.[16] Since Minn-Erva dies in that film, Chan had felt that it was unlikely she would return to the MCU, but after working on the film she was told by Feige that the studio wanted "to make better use of" her in a future project. This led to Chan auditioning for Sersi, one of the last actresses to be considered for the role. Chan later described Sersi as the most difficult role for the film to cast.[15]

Chan and Keoghan were confirmed to be cast in the film at the D23 Expo in August, in the roles of Sersi and Druig, respectively, along with Kit Harington as Dane Whitman.[13] Chan said that she and Marvel Studios were surprised by how soon after Captain Marvel her new MCU role came about, with both assuming that it would have been a project further in the future.[15] By early November, filming took place in the Canary Islands. The filming crew, including Jolie and Madden, had to be evacuated from a shooting location on the island of Fuerteventura due to an explosive device found there, thought to be a remnant armament from a Nazi base.[40] In early January 2020, filming took place outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Oxford, England,[41] as well as Hampstead Heath in London.[42] Filming wrapped on February 4, 2020.[43]

Zhao stated that Marvel Studios allowed her creative freedom to shoot the film on location, which is "exactly the way [she] wanted to shoot" it. She was able to use a similar style to her previous films, including 360° shots and working with the same camera and rigs as was used for her film Nomadland (2020). Zhao felt that she "got lucky in that Marvel wants to take risks and do something different."[24] Chan said the filming process felt very different to what she experienced on Captain Marvel, explaining that Eternals shot more on location and utilized natural light while Captain Marvel had more studio work and bluescreen.[15]

In March 2020, Scanline VFX, one of the companies working on the film's visual effects, confirmed that they would be working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[44] In early April, Disney shifted much of their Phase Four slate of films due to the pandemic, moving Eternals' release date to February 12, 2021.[45] In August, the film's title was shortened from The Eternals to Eternals,[46] and the next month, the release date was pushed back to November 5, 2021.[47] Reshoots had taken place by mid-November 2020.[48]

In January 2021, Zhao revealed she was also a writer on the film, stating the official credits had yet to be updated.[25]