Chloé Zhao’s ‘Signature Style’ Will Make ‘Eternals’ Look Different Than Other Marvel Movies

The Eternals trailer needs to come out ASAP. It’s a Marvel movie with a stacked cast, including Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, and both Robb Stark and Jon Snow, which is already plenty exciting. But the real standing ovation moment will be the trailer saying “from Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao” (much better than “visionary director”). That’s something everyone can get behind.

Over the weekend, Zhao won Best Director at the Academy Awards (only the second woman and first woman of color to do so) for her film, Nomadland, which was also named Best Picture. How did she celebrate “This afternoon I’m going back to Disney to work on Eternals,” she told Variety on Monday. “I’m probably late.”

Zhao’s currently in the editing process for Eternals, which Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige teases will look more real than other Marvel movies. He praised Zhao for “really fighting for practical locations.” When he showed a rough cut to “Disney higher-ups,” Feige “had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’ Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside. Really impressive stuff.” It wasn’t until he saw Nomadland (which, pre-pandemic, was supposed to come out after Eternals) that he realized, “That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel. This is a signature style.”

A Marvel movie not filmed in an airplane hangar or field in Georgia or soundstage (or at least not entirely) There’s another reason to be excited for the Eternals trailer.

Eternals comes out on November 5.