Eternals Star Angelina Jolie Reveals If She Would Ever Direct MCU Movie

Eternals star Angeline Jolie reveals whether or not she would consider directing an MCU movie in the future. Eternals recently had its world premiere in Hollywood, complete with a red carpet. The film has received largely positive reviews, with critics praising director Chloé Zhao for ditching the MCU’s “cookiecutter formula.” Critics were also impressed with the film’s cinematography, score, and the performances of the ensemble cast.

Eternals follows a group of superpowered immortals who are sent to Earth to protect the planet from the MCU’s newest threat: the Deviants. The film is loosely based on the Eternals comic series which was kicked off by comic book icon Jack Kirby in 1976 and reinvigorated by Neil Gaiman in 2006. While most MCU films have introduced the audience to one or two new superheroes, Eternals is unique in bringing the audience a whole new team of 10 superheroes. The film’s cast is fronted by Richard Madden and Gemma Chan, and other big names include Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harrington, and Angelina Jolie. Jolie portrays an Eternal with a fictional form of dementia known as Mahd Wy’ry, but she is still one of the team’s most capable warriors. Her character, Thena, is equipped with the ability to create and arm herself with any weapon she can think of, made from cosmic energy. 

As well as being known the world over as an actor, Jolie is also a successful director. At the Eternals red carpet premiere, Variety asked whether she would ever consider directing an MCU release. Jolie reacts by saying “I don’t know,” but it’s the rest of her response that’s the most interesting. “Maybe I’ll talk to Kevin [Feige] tonight, see if there’s a job for me,” she continued. Check out the video below:

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Jolie has directed five titles, including the war film Unbroken, which was a big-budget commercial success, so she certainly has the experience to direct an MCU movie in the future.  However, the actor has seemingly taken a break from working behind the camera with her last directing credit coming in 2017, and when answering the question of whether she would direct an MCU film, Jolie seemed unsure. Audiences will certainly be seeing the Eternals team again in the future, and with her time working as an actor on the film, Jolie could be well placed to direct a future follow-up or another MCU movie in which the Eternals appear. As Jolie acknowledged herself, the decision about who will direct future releases will, to a large extent, come from MCU arch-producer Kevin Feige.

Eternals has been projected to be Marvel’s biggest commercial hit since the beginning of Phase 4, and a lot will be riding on its critical reception and box office performance. Adding to this, unlike Black Widow, Eternals is due to have an exclusively theatrical release which is also likely to help its box office figures. The COVID-19 pandemic is still having a large impact on box office returns, but there are signs that this impact is waning as audiences are becoming more confident returning to theatres, and big releases like No Time to Die and Halloween Kills are helping to bring things back to normal. Eternals is sure to make a lot of money and justify follow-ups, but whether it’s Angelina Jolie or someone else working on future releases, audiences will have to wait and see. 

Source: Variety

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