27 Marvel's "Eternals" Behind-The-Scenes Facts That You Might Not Know, But Probably Should

The Eternals writers had to be spoiled on Infinity War and Endgame since they were writing a movie that would come after them.

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1. First, about three years ago, Kaz and Ryan Firpo wrote their first script together called Ruin. At the time, they had no agents or managers, and then suddenly the script found its way to Kevin Feige and Nate Moore at Marvel.

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"Through a friend's sister's fiancé, Ruin literally made its way to Hollywood, like not a joke," Kaz explained. "That script that we wrote outside of the system ended up winning The Black List [in 2017], Margot Robbie attached to star, and most importantly, to this story, it found its way to Nate Moore and Kevin Feige over at Marvel Studios." Ryan continued, saying, "This was all made possible by our really wonderful friends and managers, Sam Warren and Harry Lengsfield. They're the ones who discovered that script. So we owe a lot to them."

2. Kaz and Ryan's original meeting with Marvel was about "the original gods who roamed the earth" and the "superhero mythology" that is the basis for the Eternals characters.

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"We had a meeting with an incredible conversation about the original gods that roamed the earth and superhero mythology," Kaz said. "That is what opened the door for us to pitch and eventually win the job to write Eternals."

3. When they started writing Eternals, Kaz describes it as hanging out in a "windowless room in Marvel with just big ideas" alongside producer Nate Moore. They started by reading Jack Kirby's original Eternals comics, Jim Krueger's Earth X comics, and more.

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He continued, saying, "It really was just Nate Moore — who was producing a little movie called Black Panther at the time — Ryan, and I. It was the three of us just in a room for a lot of this process, researching, and throwing out big ideas."

4. Kaz and Ryan wrote "nine drafts of a 30-page outline and two drafts of the movie" before a director conversation for Eternals even began.

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"We watched a lot of different filmmakers work, and then when Chloé Zhao became part of the conversation, it was a pretty obvious moment," Kaz said. "At the time, Chloé had made two very small movies and was just in the process of talking about making and shooting Nomadland. With Eternals, we all knew we wanted to make something epic, something different, something challenging, and something diverse."

5. Kaz, Ryan, and Chloé Zhao had "good chemistry" from the start of the process and spent a lot of time laughing together while writing the film.

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"We had really good chemistry from the beginning," Ryan said. "Every time after an eight-hour-long story session, my cheeks would be hurting because we had so many laughs and so many good jokes. It was a really special time, in terms of the process of this movie and for our careers."

6. Work on Eternals began around the time Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were being released, so Kaz, Ryan, and Chloé had to be spoiled on the big plot points of those epic movies.

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"You're sitting in the Marvel headquarters and you're hearing, 'Yeah, Infinity War and Endgame are movies where, like, half the universe is gonna disappear,'" Kaz recalled. "They had to spoil these movies for us because we were literally writing a sequel to them. They hadn't come out yet. So, it was a great time to be at Marvel because those two Avengers movies created an environment for risk taking." 

7. A lot of the characters were crafted with the specific actors in mind, like Lauren Ridloff as Makkari.

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Kaz said, "We knew the face and the actor it should be, and Marvel and the wonderful casting director Sarah Halley Finn were able to pick up the phone and see what they could do."

8. Kaz and Ryan's dream actor to play Kingo was always Kumail Nanjiani.

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"What's wild about working with Marvel is that these dream castings can become a reality," Ryan said. "Every time we write, I really like to have a cast in my head. I'm a fan of movies, so it just helps me to see the character if I cast an actor in my head. When we were writing Kingo, we were like, 'This has to be Kumail. There's nobody else.'"

9. And they knew from the start that they had to try to get Salma Hayek as Ajak.

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"We knew it had to be Salma," Ryan said. "So, within weeks of us bringing Kumail and Salma up, Marvel said, 'Kumail and Salma are in.'" Kaz continued, saying, "In the comics, Ajak is this sort of angry, sad, dictator-like king. The only person who had the royal power for it was Salma Hayek. We raised our hands on that one, and a few weeks later, there was Salma Hayek."

10. Angelina Jolie actually called Marvel and expressed interest in being in Eternals, and producer Nate Moore asked Kaz and Ryan if there was a role for her.

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Kaz recalled hearing about Angelina wanting to join, saying, "We were sitting in Marvel's windowless writing office, and Nate comes in and is like, 'Hey, so, Angelina just called, and she's interested in being in the movie.' We were like, 'Who's Angelina?' and he said, 'Angelina Jolie.' Like, it never crossed our minds that such a big star could be in a movie we were writing. So, we told Nate there was Thena, which is an amazing role for her, Nate told Angelina, and two weeks later, she was in the movie."

11. Originally, Druig and Makkari's relationship wasn't a big part of Eternals, but once Chloé saw Lauren Ridloff and Barry Keoghan's chemistry, they decided to play into it.

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"I think Makkari and Druig stans are one of the biggest fanbases that come out of the movie," Kaz said. "I'm rooting for them to get together now. They have charisma and chemistry. Druig was a much more surly character, and then how he acts around Makkari was something that naturally came about. The nuzzling on the beach was just a moment where you're like, 'Yes, I want more of it.' Lauren and Barry performed themselves into a larger role with their characters. All of the actors are great, but Barry and Lauren had such magic. They are very talented."

12. For Kaz, one of his favorite characters is Druig because he's not only broody, but when he does something funny and makes the audience laugh, it just shows how complex of a character he is.

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"Druig is one of my favorite characters in the movie because he's so tortured, and it makes when he's funny and likable even more enjoyable to watch," Kaz explained. "Druig's conflict is that he's essentially a god who is watching his children die and being told he can't do anything about it. Like, that would totally put you in a dark place, but it also turns him into a cool, angry daddy. I hope people find themselves just into Druig."

13. Over the course of a year, Kaz and Ryan wrote "13 or 14 drafts" of Eternals, so there are a lot of locations they wanted to explore that didn't make the final cut.

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"There was a whole sequence where we went to Ancient Greece and got to hang out with Aristotle," Kaz said. "There was even a sequence in Ancient China once upon a time."

14. While it didn't make it into the final film, they did shoot an extended India sequence in the Gupta Empire in 400 AD that expanded on Kingo's character.

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"It actually got shot, so RIP to that amazing, beautiful scene," Kaz joked. "There's just a longer movie out there somewhere, and maybe it'll find it's way to Disney+ in the special features, who knows." Ryan added, "The sequence set up the contrast between Kingo in the past and the present a little bit more strongly. I miss that scene."

15. From the beginning, Eternals set out to be a movie about "found family" and how audiences could hopefully see themselves reflected in one of these 10 new characters.

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Kaz said, "It's a circus family of these odd couples and these weird pairings, and there's jealousies and there's rivalries, like all families. That's what the movie was about from the beginning; it was about this chosen found family. Also the idea of do you choose that family over your responsibilities as a soldier, as a hero, as an immortal space alien? You know, what do you serve? The family you love or the duty and the job that you were chosen for?"

16. Kaz and Ryan's mission from the start was to "reflect the world as it really is" and showcase diversity and LGBTQ representation in Eternals.

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"I'm half Japanese and half French. I was raised by two women in the Bay Area. It was just very normal to me," Kaz explained. "That was a big part of what we wanted to reflect, and I think we really did reflect in the movie. It's not exceptional and out of the norm to be a Black superhero; that's just what the world looks like. We are really, really proud of the way the film represents so many cultures and so many people because the movie is about Earth and humanity."

17. In terms of Phastos's relationship and the LGBTQ representation, the writers wanted it to be "really human and really natural."

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Kaz said, "Only someone like Chloé could capture the nuance and the humanity that we wanted to get across with Phastos. We're really proud to have the LGBTQ representation in the movie. It was a big part of who we are as locals from the Bay Area and just growing up there. In terms of all the characters, it was about celebrating how the things that make us weird and different really are the things that make us special."

18. Adding comedic moments to Eternals was important, and it allowed the tragic scenes "to be more sad, and it makes the laughs funnier."

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"Variety is the spice of life," Ryan explained. "You need to give people the whole human experience and the whole spectrum of emotions. I'm always looking for chances to inject a little bit of comedy because it just makes everything more full and more rich."

19. In fact, playing into Kumail Nanjiani's comedic skills was something they talked about a lot. They wanted to give him room to play and have fun.

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Kaz said, "When you have someone like Kumail, who's literally a gifted comedian, you create situations where he can play and have fun. That's a big part of that comedy. You sort of play to those strengths and set those moments up, for sure."

20. One of Kaz and Ryan's favorite funny moments from Eternals was Kingo's Bollywood career, and it's something they came up with really early on.

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"I was really happy with how that whole gag came out," Ryan said. 

21. The English Patient, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, The Godfather: Part II, Apocalypse Now, Game of Thrones, and more were all movies and TV shows that inspired aspects of Eternals.

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Kaz explained, "We looked at The English Patient, which is one of my favorite books and one of my favorite movies of all time. That was a huge reference point for Ryan and I. 2001, obviously, was being pulled from. We even looked at The Matrix. Godfather II as well. We looked at the classics that worked. There was no exact roadmap for how to make Eternals, which was a challenge and a gift. You try to find references for specific moments."

22. The moment Ryan is most proud of to see onscreen is when Sersi uses her powers and freezes Tiamut. In fact, that was an idea they had since the very start.

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"It was such a crazy idea, a crazy visual, that we came up with really early. Even back as far as the pitching phases," Ryan began. "To see that idea survive through all the iterations of the script was really exciting. Chloé, the VFX team, and everybody at Marvel really killed it. It's such a great climax that really ties everything together."

23. And Kaz is just very proud of how all of the characters turned out and seeing their character ideas come to fruition.

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He said, "They were the characters that we first chose sitting in Ryan's office in Pasadena based on a couple of cards. They never really changed, and to finally see them onscreen fighting each other on the beach was incredible."

24. The post-credits sequences "changed a lot" during the process of writing Eternals.

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"It had a lot to do with how the script was changing," Ryan explained. "They are about setting up the future, but also paying off what we've just seen."

25. There were about "six or seven sequences" that were thought of for the post-credits scenes. In fact, before he made his debut in Loki, Kang the Conqueror was talked about.

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"Kang has already been introduced in the multiverse, but we were playing around with iterations of Kang and even, like, Galactus," Kaz said. 

26. Eros, who is played by Harry Styles, making his debut in Eternals was a "really early idea," and he was always a character Kaz and Ryan knew they wanted to include in this movie.

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"Eros was clearly the best way to set up the launchpad to have us go out into the cosmos, basically," Ryan began. "Eros was someone we really, really loved. When we were originally choosing which Eternals to choose for the movie, we were really attracted to him, but we knew he wasn't exactly the right fit for this group. He didn't have a place to totally fit in, especially when you have Ikaris and Sersi already. So, we put him in our back pocket to see if we could use him later. Then, when we got to the post-credits sequence, it was the perfect place to plug him in."

27. And finally, the post-credits scenes were ultimately all about looking to the future of the MCU, which is how Eros, Dane, and even Blade were settled on.

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Kaz said, "What it really comes down to is what does this movie require, where is it going, and knowing what everyone is doing over with Blade, Loki, and Doctor Strange 2, and just trying to play in harmony with that. We had a lot of fun with those sequences. There are a lot that didn't make it, but these two are right for this movie, for sure."