Kumail Nanjiani Studied Tom Cruise & Will Smith For Eternals Character Prep

Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani says he studied movie stars like Tom Cruise and Will Smith to prep for his character. The latest feature film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is directed by Chloé Zhao, an acclaimed independent filmmaker coming off of Best Picture and Director wins for Nomadland. Eternals has already had its official premiere and hits US theaters this Friday, November 5.

In Zhao’s film, the titular group of immortal aliens have lived on Earth for 7,000 years in relative secrecy, and Eternals promotional material has teased the different ways they have integrated into human society. Gemma Chan’s Sersi, for example, poses as a museum curator, while Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos has been shown living a normal, domestic life with his husband. Nanjiani’s Kingo, by contrast, is a major Bollywood star, with one clip showing him performing an extensive dance number for one of his films.

While he of course revisited the Bollywood actors of his childhood to prepare for playing Kingo, Nanjiani shares with Hemispheres that he studied several from Hollywood, too. To capture the essence of what makes a compelling movie star, the Pakistani-American actor watched famous leading men from various eras, ranging from classic swashbuckler Errol Flynn all the way to Tom Cruise and Will Smith. By focusing on their most iconic roles, Nanjiani says, he hoped to give his character that elusive movie-star quality:

I grew up watching Bollywood movies, and I knew all the people I was a big fan of [including Hrithik Roshan] and that I wanted to base him on. I watched a lot of their interviews, not necessarily their performances. For the action stuff, I watched Zorro, Errol Flynn, and old school swashbuckling movies. And I watched a bunch of iconic movie stars in their iconic roles: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Denzel, etc., to try and see what it is about these guys that makes them movie stars.

Nanjiani goes on to say that these actors always bring a piece of their persona to each project, rather than disappearing into the role à la Daniel Day-Lewis. He also used the topic as a springboard to praise his Eternals co-star Angelina Jolie, who plays the warrior Eternal Thena. Nanjiani says the differences between her and Kingo translated to the actors approaching the parts in completely different ways, with Jolie focusing far more on her character’s physicality as a primary means of communication.

Nanjiani’s comments offer Marvel fans an intriguing look into how the actors playing their favorite superheroes go about preparing for the roles, as well as shining light on the unique challenge presented to the Eternals cast. With each of the team having witnessed the rise and fall of numerous human civilizations, the cast must cultivate a sense of their age and experience in their performances, as well as settling on how they feel about their own longevity. When looking to lend Kingo the ineffable “it-factor” that defines a movie star, it makes sense that Nanjiani studied examples from all across Hollywood history. Fans will get the chance to see if he achieves the desired effect when Eternals releases wide at the end of this week.