Salma Hayek, star of the upcoming 26th MCU film Eternals has commented on the stress which came with the role’s enormous amount of secrecy. First announced in 2018, Marvel’s Eternals is set to be helmed by Nomadland’s Academy Award-winning director, Chloé Zhao. Centered on a race of secretive immortals who have been in hiding on Earth for 7,000 years, they reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.
Featuring an all-star ensemble cast which includes Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee and Kit Harrington, Hayek is slated to play the role of the Eternal’s spiritual leader, Ajak. Originally created as a male character by Marvel legend, Jack Kirby, Ajak can manipulate cosmic energy to heal and has the ability to communicate with the Celestials, the first sentient beings in the universe who were introduced into the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy. Originally announced for a late 2020 release, Eternals is now slated for a November 5th premiere.
While speaking with USA Today about her upcoming film, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, in which she stars with Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds, Hayek also opened up about the stresses which came with Marvel’s strict secrecy requirements. Explaining that she signed onto the project without even getting to read the script, she said that “It was really stressful. It’s like marrying a guy you've never met.” While she was not able to say much about the film’s plot, she was able to also elaborate on the problems she also had with her character’s elaborate headpiece. Read what Hayek said below:
It's aaahhhh nightmare. You have to drive to these locations and the headpiece doesn’t fit in the car. So you have to do yoga to get out and into the car. And everybody guards the headpiece like it's like a special jewel. People are walking after you. It's not easy to put it on. You do get a headache.
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominating the box office and generating billions in revenue, it is not surprising that Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios are serious about having the story details of their upcoming projects locked down tight. Being able to remain tight-lipped is an important skill for any MCU star, and one the Spider-Man: No Way Home star, Tom Holland, has had some very public difficulties with over the years. While Hayek seems to have encountered her own problems with the need for secrecy, at least she has not let any potential spoilers slip.
With the first 3 MCU phases now canonically referred to as The Infinity Saga, the new Phase 4 content marks a major rebirth for the brand, which will now seek to move into new territory after losing some of their biggest heroes. The mystery surrounding the Eternals, and why they have been so insistent on refusing to interfere in previous cataclysmic events in the MCU has already been the source of much fan debate, something which the film will need to answer. Exactly how they will do this, however, will continue to be a closely guarded secret. Unless that is, Hayek and her co-stars start taking lessons in protecting confidentiality from Tom Holland.
