Eternals Director Chloe Zhao Says Movie Is in “Final Stretch”

Fresh off her Academy Award wins for Nomadland, filmmaker Chloe Zhao is already hard at work on his next film, Marvel Studios' Eternals. The comic adaptation wrapped filming over a year ago and the production is nearing the finish line as Zhao reveals in a new interview. "Final stretch," the Oscar winner told Variety when asked where they are in the process. "Just like sculpturing, you never want it to end. You just want to keep going until they tell you you can't keep going anymore....I think everyone in my life close to me knows that I'm maybe working a little too much. Yes! This afternoon I'm going back to Disney to work on Eternals. Right after this interview. I'm probably late."

Zhao opened up further about her work with Marvel on the project and how she used working with the studio and the imagination of Jack Kirby to come up with this film, adding: "Jack Kirby and his imagination, his incredible work, is really the foundation of it. On top of that, there is what Marvel Studios has built, this incredible journey they have going on. And then on top of that is me as a fan of the MCU. And then, me as a fan of the genre, but also growing up with sci-fi and manga and fantasy films. And how can we have this big melting pot and cook up something that may just taste a little bit different? It was just an exciting thing; all of us went in wanting to do that. We'll see."

The same interview with Zhao also features an interesting bit from Marvel president Kevin Feige, who told the outlet that like her Oscar winning movie the director wanted to use real locations and practical light, noting that she was "fighting" for it. Sounds like it work too as Feige was impressed enough with her work to cut a reel together of the shots for the "Disney higher-ups"

"And I had to keep saying, 'This is right out of a camera; there's no VFX work to this at all!'" Feige said. "Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really impressive stuff." Feige added that after seeing Nomadland he realized: "Oh! That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel. This is a signature style."

Eternals is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 5, 2021 while Nomadland is streaming now on Hulu.