Salma Hayek reveals she and director Chloé Zhao initially fought over the Eternals script because of how passionate they both were. Marvel might've just rearranged its entire 2022 and 2023 release schedule, but the studio's next big screen adventure remains mere weeks away. Eternals is finally slated to premiere in early November after being delayed from last year by the coronavirus pandemic. It will be the first Marvel movie directed by the Oscar-winning Zhao, and it will take the MCU to new heights with its millennia-spanning story.
The Eternals are a group of cosmic beings who were sent to Earth thousands of years ago to watch over humanity and protect them from the Deviants. To bring the powerful team to life, Zhao enlisted a diverse cast filled with Hollywood A-listers, from Angelina Jolie to Richard Madden. Eternals will feature a lot of Marvel firsts, from its first gay hero (Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos) to its first deaf hero (Lauren Ridloff's Makkari). Many Eternals stars have stated they never expected to play a superhero in a Marvel movie, thus making the entire film even more special.
Related: Why Eternals Needs To Be Longer Than Infinity War
One of those stars is Salma Hayek, who plays team leader Ajak. Hayek was surprised Zhao wanted to cast her in Eternals, but once she came on board, she became very passionate about the film. That passion even led to a rather heated debate with Zhao over Eternals' script. In a recent interview with Elle, Hayek recalled how she initially had some issues with the script and even got into a screaming match with Zhao over it. She said:
I had some problems with the script and we got into a serious fight at my house. We were both passionate. And she was like, “No, but that’s not how I designed it.” The people outside my house were calling it a fight, because we were kind of screaming. We continued to talk and talk, and it went on for a long time. The people outside were so nervous that I was going to get fired. I came out and I said, “Wow, I’m in love with her brain!” That was the best creative conversation I’ve ever had with a director in my life, and she felt the same. She told me, “Wow! That was amazing.” It was just complete freedom. We found our middle ground. While finding it, we came up with other ideas. It was super exciting.
A full-blown fight doesn't seem like the ideal way to begin a creative partnership, but in the case of Hayek and Zhao, it seemed to work incredibly well. Both of them felt very strongly about Eternals' story, and they were willing to actually discuss their viewpoints openly. It bodes well for the movie itself that those working on it were so passionate about the plot and characters; everything in Eternals will have come from a place of love, and that's incredibly special.
Despite screaming at each other, Zhao and Hayek were able to work together for the duration of Eternals' production, and Hayek came out of it with nothing but immense praise for her director. In fact, many involved with Eternals have heaped praise upon Zhao, including Marvel head Kevin Feige. Zhao received near-unanimous praise for her previous movie Nomadland, and there's a lot of anticipation surrounding her MCU debut. She's a creative force to be reckoned with, and it already sounds like the MCU is incredibly lucky to have her.
