Kumail Nanjiani spoke candidly about his experience working on the critically panned Marvel movie “Eternals” in a recent issue NPR Wild Card with Rachel Martin, saying the film changed the way he works, for which he is “very grateful.”
“I'm very proud of my performance in it,” he said. “And it’s rare to say, but I actually wouldn’t change a thing about who I am in this movie.”
The actor and comedian played superhero Kingo in the 2021 fantasy film alongside co-stars Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan and Angelina Jolie. Despite the rich cast, the film collected disappointing box office receipts and lukewarm reviews from critics.
In the podcast, Nanjiani shared his biggest takeaways from the experience, including the importance of separating “my experience of something and the outcome of something.”
“Most of the time, if I'm in something, I can't decide how good it will be,” the Silicon Valley star explained. “I can't choose how the audience will perceive it. I can't choose how much money it will make. I can't choose what the reviewers will think about it. What I can choose is whether I learned from it or not, you know? So for me, that was the thing that I had to remind myself over and over and over and over again – that failure is not failure. It's really an opportunity to learn… What I can control is learning from every job. And joyfully. approach to every job.”
Nanjiani has been open about his feelings about the project in the past, discussing how The Eternals received negative reception. brought him to therapy about stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia Podcast “Working on it”.
“I signed on for six movies,” Nanjiani said. “They make you sign up for all these things… and then none of it happens.”
Most recently, the actor returned to the stage for the first time in a decade for his recently released Hulu comedy special Night Thoughts.
