Kumail Nanjiani vows breaking 'brown dude' stereotypes with Eternals role

The actor opened up about taking up the biggest role of his life and Marvel's long road to inclusivity

Kumail Nanjiani has certainly made his way to the top. The actor has been in the headlines for his role in the upcoming Marvel project, The Eternals, which also stars the likes of Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington and others. Nanjiani has been prepping himself for one of the most challenging roles he has ever taken on and needless to say, it has been a gruelling task.

In a recent interview with Los Angeles Times, the actor opened up about taking up the biggest role of his life, how he plans on breaking the Middle East stereotypes and Marvel's long road to inclusivity.

"It doesn’t feel real to me," Nanjiani shared. "There was this big premiere yesterday; for us, our movie’s been delayed a year. When you’re shooting it, you feel like you’re in a Marvel movie, but now it’s a little over a year and people are like, 'What’s it like being in the MCU?' And I’m like, 'I don’t know! I haven’t seen the movie. I’m not in the MCU until the movie comes out!'"

The actor further shared how Marvel is doing its bit as it plans on getting more people of colour in the universe. "They really are taking a huge chance on people and the kinds of stories they want to tell. I remember when I was at the premiere for Black Panther and it felt like it was a real cultural moment." Nanjiani added, "It was exciting. It felt like something was happening. I felt the same way when I went to the Crazy Rich Asians premiere. These big moments don’t come very often, and it is exciting that bigger studios are pushing them. I feel excited to be a small part of it."

Nanjiani weighed in on his character in the film. "He’s an Eternal so he’s been here for thousands of years. He has these superpowers and he’s become a Bollywood movie star. All the Eternals have been in human society to different degrees, but he’s the one who really immersed himself and falls in love with the trappings of modernity. And he loves being rich. He loves being famous. He loves being an Eternal," he said.

The artist went on, "I’ve been in this industry for about a decade and I looked at the usual opportunities that the brown dudes get. We get to be nerdy. I wanted him to be the opposite of that — I wanted him to be cool. With nerdy goes “weakling,” and I wanted him to be the opposite of that and to be strong physically. Or we get to be terrorists, and I wanted him to be the opposite of that. I wanted him to be this character full of joy. In working with Chloé, we were like, let’s take every single thing that I haven’t gotten to do and make a character who’s the exact opposite of the way a lot of American pop culture see people from Pakistan or the Middle East."

Nanjiani added how agreeing to star in The Eternals was the "easiest decision I’ve ever made!" Divulging on how he prepped for the difficult role, he commented, "Obviously with exposition scenes and the more dramatic stuff you stick to the lines, but there were a lot of scenes where Chloé [director] was like, “I want you to say something different every time or say it differently every time.” And weirdly, it is a challenge."

But it isn't short of something of a dream to the Big Sick actor. A few decades back, the thought of starring in MCU seemed like a far-fetched notion. "I could not imagine that at all, even though it was a few years ago that I thought, “I want to play a Marvel superhero.” I mean, I didn’t know how to go about doing it," he said. "I don’t know if you do this, but I sort of pick big goals in my head where I’m like, all right — that’s something I want to do. It’s not achievable right now, but that’s the finish line."

Talking about whether he thought he would get the chance to play a superhero or superhero-adjacent hero in this kind of franchise, Nanjiani responded, "There are two sides to it because when there hasn’t been a lot of representation, getting to be the first group of people who get to represent can come with a lot of pressure. If you carry that it can be really tough. It’s two things that you have to hold together:"

He concluded by saying, "I know I’m representing a thing that people haven’t seen and it might mean a lot to people [who were] like kids like me. On the other hand, you can’t really think of it because then you get flattened under the pressure. So you have to think of yourself as an individual while still understanding that it’s a massive responsibility."

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