With “Eternals”, director Chloé Zhao ventures into the superhero genre. For the action scenes, she was inspired by a very special film.
The aspiring young filmmaker Chloé Zhao is considered one of the hottest directors in Hollywood right now. Your new film “Nomadland” has been nominated for a Golden Globe in four important categories. The chances of getting Oscar nominations should look at least as good.
But so far the 38-year-old has only worked in the independent sector, with enormously expensive big-budget productions she had not had any experience before her debut with “Eternals” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The fact that those responsible at Marvel Studios around President Kevin Feige have given their full trust, shows once more the flair of the successful producer.
Do you want to watch “The Revenant” again? You can do that via Amazon in the stream
Action played little or no role in her previous films. It can be a real challenge to visually capture the dynamics correctly. And while Zhao was inspired by Wong-Kar-wai’s “Happy Together” for “Nomadland”, she used a very special Oscar winner as a model for the action scenes in “Eternals”: Alejandro González Iñárritus “The Revenant”, like in an interview with The Playlist let know:
“When it came to the action sequences, where I had a great time with a great team, the one I wanted most to refer to was ‘The Revenant.’ ‘The Revenant’ is a movie that I love so much. And I think we saw the movie so many times, at every meeting for our action sequences, because most of the sequences were shot on location. I love how immersive the sequences in ‘The Revenant’ are. This is definitely a movie that we are emulating. And Marvel fully supported this idea. “
Most of the action sequences in superhero films usually take place in front of the green screen, as quite a few visual effects are used here. The fact that Zhao was able to shoot the majority of her action scenes in real locations is already a good sign for a completely different approach. The comparison with the intense “The Revenant” only increases curiosity.
The MCU will soon be continued on the big screen: These films and series await you in the near future: