An Eternals Star Nearly Spoiled the Marvel Movie at Comic-Con
Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomer Salma Hayek says she nearly spoiled Eternals at San Diego Comic-Con years before the Marvel movie made its way to theaters. Hayek, who was on hand when Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige formally announced Eternals and its star-studded cast at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, recalls her hushed conversation with director Chloe Zhao about the "secret" Marvel movie. Appearing on The Graham Norton Show ahead of the November 5 release of Eternals, the Ajak actor reflects on how she had to be careful not to spoil the movie before and after its big reveal at SDCC:
"I remember talking to the director for the first time in a hotel room where they do that [Comic-Con] in San Diego where all the people dress like Halloween when it's not Halloween. The whole thing was completely surreal," Hayek said. "And talking to her, I'm Mexican, I talk loud...and I start asking her questions, and she's like, 'Shhh!' I'm like, 'What?!' [She says], 'They can hear us. And in the script, it's a secret.'"
They were alone, Hayek recalls, but Zhao warned eavesdroppers could be listening in through the walls.
"'Next door! You have to be very careful. Everybody knows that we're talking about the new Marvel movie, they could be [listening] through the walls,'" Hayek recalled of her confidential conversation with the Nomadland director. "She was serious because they actually do it. So it was really weird. But I love it now, I feel at home."
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Hayek's role as Ajak, the wise and spiritual leader of the Eternals, was kept so under wraps that her Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard co-star Samuel L. Jackson playfully called her out for keeping her Marvel role a secret.
"It was terrible, because when I was doing that movie I had still sworn secrecy, and nobody knew. And they were all talking about their Marvel stuff, and [Hitman co-star and Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds] was asking him because now Deadpool is [going to be in the MCU]," Hayek told ComicBook. "I was not sitting with that self-confidence. I was dying to brag. I wanted them to know so badly...I was like, 'Oh, I wonder if I get fired if I just say it to these two.'"
Pressed by Jackson, who made his own top-secret Marvel debut as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury in a post-credits scene ending 2008's Iron Man, Hayek says the Avengers and Captain Marvel star figured out she had joined the Marvel family.
"One day I'm sitting with Sam after they were talking about it a lot and he goes, 'So how much are they going to pay you?' or something like this, or 'Oh, so which one are you?'" Hayek said. "No, I didn't say anything. I go, 'What are you talking about?' He goes, 'Come on, I've been watching you, you're in the Marvel movie, but you don't want to say it because they told you not to say it. It's okay, I'm part of the family.' It was incredible."
Starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Barry Keoghan, Angelina Jolie, and Kit Harington, Marvel's Eternals opens only in theaters on November 5.