Eternals Cameraman Actor Speaks Out on Marvel Role

Last week, Marvel Studios released a new sizzle reel that featured the first footage of the upcoming Eternals. The movie is set to feature an exciting cast and is being helmed by Chloé Zhao who just became the second woman in history to win Best Director at the Academy Awards for directing Nomadland, which also won Best Picture. The brief Eternals footage seen in the sizzle reel had many people talking about a cameraman who was seen in the shots. Folks wondered if it was a mistake, but it turns out the cameraman is part of the move. In fact, the actor who plays the role, Harish Patel, recently spoke to Pink Villa and revealed he’s not in the film much beyond what we have already seen.

“Whatever little you have seen of me in the teaser that’s where my role starts and ends,” Patel shared. “In India, I am a character actor. Here people think I am sitting idle but I am regularly doing work there [in the West]. I am very happy that I am getting attention [here] after so many years. People would often refer to me as Ibu Hatela from ‘Gunda’ but I feel my work in other films was equally good … However, I don’t like tom-tomming about my work. If I had to, I could have said that Slumdog Millionaire was offered to me and I couldn’t do it because of my other prior commitments,” he added.

It’s currently unclear why there’s a cameraman in Eternals, but the best guess is he’s following Kingo, the character played by Kumail Nanjiani, who is a Bollywood movie star.

In a recent interview, Zhao spoke about why she wanted to work with Marvel.

“I have been a fan of the MCU for the last decade. So, I put the word out there I wanted to make a Marvel movie and the right project came to me,” Zhao said while speaking with director Barry Jenkins in a discussion for Variety. “I just wanted to work with that team. Again, back to world-building. It is my favorite thing. That’s why I love ‘Star Wars.’ There is a world that is so rich. I wanted to enter it and see what I can do. It’s the same as what you’re saying. Can I put a spin on it while still being true to the essence of it? That’s exciting to me. It’s not that different than me going to the world of rodeo cowboys and saying, ‘My spin on that is going to be this,’ and it’s a collaboration. The chemistry of that, when it’s right, it could be very exciting.”

Eternals is currently scheduled to hit on theatres on November 5th.