Angelina Jolie wants people to see themselves as superheroes in Marvel's 'Eternals'
When Angelina Jolie stars in an action movie, audiences have adrenaline-pumping action scenes to look forward to in the movie houses. But for the latest Marvel movie Eternals, Angelina says what she's really excited about in her first outing as a superhero is a chance for audiences to see themselves represented as superheroes on the big screen.
The actress made the statement during a virtual press conference with Asian press when asked about what it was about the film that she was most excited about.
“I hope that a lot of people are going to see themselves as superheroes who may not have seen themselves as superheroes before. I'm excited for that,” she said.
The excitement is understandable, as Eternals marks a lot of first for Marvel. It's the first time the film has cast a deaf actress, Lauren Ridloff, in a leading role. It is also the first time for an openly gay superhero character to be represented in the Marvel movies in the form of Phastos, as played by Brian Tyree Henry.
Angelina covered a lot of topics during the press conference, ranging from her thoughts on her character Thena, how the cast developed the family bond essential for the film, as well as how inspired it was to choose Academy Award-winning director Chloe Zhao to direct the film.
Regarding the character she plays, Angelina described Thena as “a soldier who is affected by the memories of battle and has PTSD” and who has spent most of her life expecting a fight rather than kindness. Through it all, Thena has Don Lee's character Gilgamesh as her “comrade-in-arms.”
“They are partners, and they fight together. There are a lot of strong female characters in film now. But to have a strong woman with a strong man who she can lean on, like in this film, is the kind of partnership and relationship that I'd like to see more of,” she explained.
Photo source: Disney Philippines
This “partnership and relationship” between her, Don, and the rest of the cast was something that Angelina says came easy to them, something that she attributes to director Chloe Zhao.
“It's interesting, and I don't know if this is the genius of how Chloé cast us, but it felt like we'd known each other before. I don't know what it was, but we were friends very quickly,” she shared. “The person I had to be closest to was Don. We naturally found each other immediately, and we were kind of inseparable.”
As for Chloe herself, Angelina had nothing but praise, calling her an “extraordinary choice” to direct a superhero movie, especially because of the huge scope and timeline that Eternals covers.
“When I saw the film, I didn't know how she did it. I didn't know how she was able to balance so much,” she said. “What I wasn't surprised by is how authentic it was. This epic film feels very personal and very emotional and very human. I believe that's her gift.”
Audiences seem to agree. As of this writing, Eternals has made USD$337,848,386 worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo, which is quite an achievement during this pandemic era.
While Eternals is only set to be released nationwide here in the Philippines on December 1, audiences can head to select cinemas in the country to catch a limited release of the film from 6 p.m., November 29 to the whole day of November 30.