Kumail Nanjiani Reveals That He Went to Therapy After Poor ‘Eternals’ Reviews
As it turns out, starring in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) entry may not be all that it cracked up to be. Or, at least, it wasn’t for Kumail Nanjiani.
In a recent interview, the MCU star revealed that he ended up seeking a counselor after completing the Eternals press circuit in 2021.
Photo: Marvel
Nanjiani starred in the MCU entry as Kingo, an Eternal who can create cosmic energy projectiles. On earth, Kingo becomes enamored with fame and becomes a Bollywood star.
Long before poor reviews became somewhat common in the MCU, Eternals received a 47 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the worst-reviewed entries in Marvel history. According to Nanjiani, he became too keenly aware of how bad the reviews were.
Source: Marvel Studios’ ETERNALS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
“The reviews were bad, and I was too aware of it,” Nanjiani said during an appearance on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. “I was reading every review and checking too much.”
‘Eternals’ Poor Reviews Were Surprising to Marvel
According to Nanjiani, the poor reviews were as surprising to Marvel as they were to the film’s stars.
“It was really, really hard because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals, and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted,” Nanjiani continued.
Because the film was reviewed early by critics, Nanjiani and his co-stars had to continue to do press even as the film failed.
“I think there was some weird soup in the atmosphere for why that movie got slammed so much, and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie,” he continued. “It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore,” Nanjiani remembered.
Nanjiani Eventually Got a Therapist
It was then that the actor decided something needed to change.
“Some [stuff] has to change, so I started counseling. I still talk to my therapist about that,” he revealed.
Photo: Marvel
“Emily says that I do have trauma from it,” he continued. “We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, ‘That was tough, wasn’t it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough,’ and I think we all went through something similar.”
While Eternals was certainly not Marvel’s finest effort, it is sad to hear that Nanjiani and his co-stars had such a tough time after the film’s release.
Photo: Marvel
It is good to hear, however, that the actor is in a better place now.
