Chloé Zhao Interview: Eternals

Marvel's Eternal premieres in theaters on November 5 and is being brought to life on the big screen by Chloé Zhao who directed and wrote the film alongside Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Matthew "Kaz" Firpo. Zhao is best known for her award-winning film Nomadland, which won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture in 2021. She joins the ranks of directors like Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler who have made the jump from indie movies to the MCU.

Zhao spoke to Screen Rant about trusting the story of Eternals, exploring the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, and the post-credits scene that had everyone talking.

WARNING: This interview contains spoilers for Eternals.

Screen Rant: I love the cosmic side of the MCU so much, and this was so fantastic. We've been so focused on Thanos and the snap, and you pull it back and are like, "Hey, there's a way bigger picture here." I'm curious what you can say about how big of an effect this story will have on the MCU going forward.

Chloé Zhao: Huge, huge. I can't say anything! I can't say anything, but one thing I can say is that we knew going in that the origin of the MCU will be defined to a certain extent in this film by exploring the mythology of the Celestials, and we know this is going to have repercussions for the future.

When those two things are locked in, we get to really make a standalone movie and to play within that. And that's what Jack Kirby had intended when he first created the comics: he created a group of heroes and a world very much separate from, at that time, the really popular heroes that exist in the mainstream.

It is a starting point in the Marvel Universe, but it does kind of take you out of the Marvel Universe for a little bit. I'm curious if you toyed with the idea of having existing Avengers appear, and how you decided to stay in the Eternals bubble.

Chloé Zhao: I think it was very important for Marvel and for the team at Marvel to step back; to not rely on their other familiar characters, which is the easiest thing to do. If anything, I'm the Fact Guardian, "Can I have this? And that?"

No, but I think it was very important that they were pushing me to trust this story and these characters. And the treatment that I received from earlier on, that Nate Moore and Kevin Feige and the Firpos have worked on together is exactly that. It didn't include familiar characters.

Chloe Zhao and Gemma Chan on a beach in a behind-the-scenes shot on the Eternals

I would love to jump to the end, to the spoiler section of the interview because I would love to ask you about the credits scene. I've never seen a bigger reaction in a theater than Harry Styles as Starfox.

Chloé Zhao: If you care about my safety, both of our safety and safety of everyone in this room...

What was it like working with him and seeing him as Starfox?

Chloé Zhao: Starfox was not a character that we brought in like, "Oh, here is Starfox. Let's go find the right actor to play it." When I pitched Starfox to Kevin, it was a package deal.

I loved the idea of Starfox - Eros is an Eternal in the setup. He's just like our Eternals and comes from the same origin. So, the fact that he was on Titan all this time... What has happened that might have led to where Thanos was when we met him? I don't have answers, but I'm curious. I thought he's a really interesting character.

I thought about Harry since Dunkirk. I thought was very interesting what he did there, and I like casting people who are pretty much a version of that character in real life. And these two, as soon as I met Harry, I thought that he is Eros. So, that was really a package deal. If Kevin says yes, and if Harry says yes, then this is going to happen. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having that post-credits scene.

Next: Why Thanos' Brother Starfox Looks Human, Not Giant & Purple