Eternals turns 5 this week, and its production still feels like one of Marvel Studios’ biggest swings. Chloé Zhao was handed a cosmic ensemble, a script that started as a Greek-style god story, and permission to shoot it her way. The making of it is full of details fans still save.
A Nazi-base device cleared the set
By early November 2019, filming had taken place in the Canary Islands. The cast and crew, including Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden, had to be evacuated from a shooting location on Fuerteventura when an explosive device, thought to be a remnant armament from a Nazi base, was found there. Marvel’s real-location plan turned out to have real risks.
Zhao shot it like Nomadland
Principal photography had begun at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire by the July 2019 announcement, with Ben Davis as director of photography. Zhao said Marvel Studios allowed her creative freedom to shoot on location exactly the way she wanted, using 360° shots and the same camera and rigs as Nomadland, which she was set to complete back-to-back with Eternals. She felt lucky that Marvel wanted to take risks and do something different. She cited The Revenant as a primary influence on the action sequences.
Her pitch had ‘reams of visuals’
During late August 2018, Marvel’s director search narrowed to a shortlist that included Chloé Zhao, Nicole Kassell, Travis Knight, and the pair of Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra. Zhao approached Marvel Studios as an MCU fan and wanted to bring her own take and world-building. Feige described her presentation as fascinating, with ‘reams of visuals,’ and he was impressed with her passion for a project that was not a top priority for the studio.
Feige wanted myths to become sci-fi
Marvel Studios had been actively developing an Eternals film since April 2018 for Phase Four. Feige said Marvel was interested in exploring the ‘ancient aliens kind of sci-fi trope’ by having the Eternals be the inspiration for myths and legends throughout MCU history. The film would also grow out of a much earlier attempt: in April 2015, Marvel Television had worked with John Ridley on an ABC series reinventing the Eternals, though that ultimately did not move forward.
Earth X influenced the script
Ryan and Kaz Firpo were set to write the script a month after Feige’s 2018 update, with an outline including a love story between Sersi and Ikaris. The Firpos said the 1999 limited comic series Earth X by Jim Krueger and John Paul Leon was a major inspiration. Zhao read a treatment that felt like a Greek play where gods discuss human nature, and she became interested after working on the pitch with producer Nate Moore.
Gemma Chan nearly stayed out
Gemma Chan had portrayed Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, a character who dies. She felt it was unlikely she would return to the MCU, but after working on that film Feige told her the studio wanted to ‘make better use’ of her. Chan auditioned for Sersi, one of the last actresses considered, and later described Sersi as the most difficult role for the film to cast. She was confirmed at D23 Expo alongside Barry Keoghan as Druig and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman.
Oxford and London came next
More real locations followed the Canary Islands. In early January 2020, filming took place outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Oxford, England, as well as Hampstead Heath and Camden in London, under the working title Sack Lunch. Chan said the process felt very different from Captain Marvel because Eternals shot more on location.
Zhao aimed for a Malick Marvel
Approximately four months ahead of filming, the script was not finalized. Producer Nate Moore introduced Zhao to Patrick Burleigh, who had been part of Marvel’s writers program, and Zhao hired him to work on the screenplay for about three months ahead of filming. Burleigh said Zhao needed to write as well as direct to process the film through her own filter, and said her draft showed she was trying to make the Terrence Malick version of a Marvel film. Zhao cited Malick’s The Tree of Life as a particular inspiration.
From a suspected Nazi-base explosive in Fuerteventura to a director treating a Marvel film like Nomadland, the making of Eternals is exactly the kind of detail fans love to return to. Which one are you keeping?
Facts from Wikipedia: Eternals (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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