Director Chloé Zhao has shared insights on the challenges she faced during the making of Marvel’s Eternals, describing the experience as both daring and perilous. Discussing the complexities of the film’s production, Zhao revealed what she learned from working on Marvel’s most unconventional project, highlighting the impact of an unlimited budget on creative decisions.
The Ambitious Vision Behind Marvel‘s Eternals
Tasked with bringing a groundbreaking comic to the big screen, Marvel Studios entrusted Chloé Zhao, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, to steer Eternals in a new direction amid criticism that the franchise played it safe. With a star-studded cast and a vast $200 million budget, expectations were high for the film to break new ground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, despite grossing over $400 million, the movie did not meet the studio’s financial hopes and received mixed reactions from fans and critics alike.
Zhao described the immense budget as a double-edged sword, presenting unexpected difficulties. She pointed out that having so many resources without strict limitations made certain aspects of the production challenging.
“Eternals had, like, an unlimited amount of money and resources. And here we have one street corner that we can afford, to [stand in for] Stratford. Eternals didn’t have a lot of limitations, and that is actually quite dangerous. Because we only have that street corner [in Hamnet], suddenly everything has meaning,”
she explained.
Valuable Lessons from the Eternals Experience
Despite the film’s mixed reception, Zhao found the project to be a significant learning opportunity, particularly in the area of world-building—a skill she had not fully developed in her previous films, which focused on real-world settings. This experience later informed her work on Hamnet, allowing her to navigate storytelling on a grander scale with more clarity about what is realistic within a fictional world.
Eternals prepared me for Hamnet because it’s world-building. Before that, I had only done films that existed in the real world. I also learned what to do and not to do- what’s realistic and what isn’t.
—Chloé Zhao, Director
Years after its release, Eternals has carved out a unique place among Marvel‘s projects. The film is no longer considered the studio‘s biggest misstep, partly because its distinct style and slower narrative moments have earned it a niche following. However, it appears unlikely that the characters from Eternals will return in the near future, leaving their story somewhat open-ended within the cinematic universe.
Currently, Eternals is available for streaming on Disney Plus, where viewers can revisit Zhao’s bold take on the Marvel mythos. The film’s production journey offers important insights into the balance between creative freedom and practical constraints, which could influence future Marvel projects. Fans and industry observers alike will be watching closely for any announcement about the franchise’s direction going forward.
