Kumail Nanjiani ‘learned so much’ from watching Angelina Jolie & Salma Hayek

angelina jolie salma hayek kumail

The Eternals doesn’t come out until November 5th, but I cannot wait for the big promotional tour. Mostly, I’m interested in the interviews from the stars, because I keep getting the impression that this Marvel film had really good vibes. Gemma Chan made it sound like she felt so relaxed to be among friends. Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie are BFFs now. And Kumail Nanjiani seems like he’s one of the nicest guys ever. Kumail chatted recently about how he got along really well with Angelina and Salma:

Kumail Nanjiani couldn’t have been more impressed with his Eternals co-stars, especially Angelina Jolie. The actor, who takes on the role of Kingo in the upcoming Marvel movie, opened up to ET’s Rachel Smith about how the movie star was behind the scenes. He also dished on what he learned from Jolie and Salma Hayek while on the set.

“Angie, she would not go back to her trailer. She always hung out on set. She was always with everyone,” Nanjiani shared while at the Saks Fifth Avenue New York Fashion Week party. “So I realized what you do on camera is only part of the job.”

“Salma was the one who would always have dinners and people over,” he continued. “They are amazing. I have learned so much from watching both of them. Just how to be a pro, you know? I was so impressed. They are always on time, they know all the words, they are very thoughtful about how they work and they really wanted to create a family… So much of it is how you are with people. You create a community, you create a family, you create a group. And both of them, they go on camera, they are movie stars. They are fantastic in the movie.”

Eternals centers on a new group of Marvel heroes — an immortal alien race who secretly lives on Earth to keep it safe. The star-studded cast also includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kit Harrington, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh and Don Lee.

“I am so, so pumped. I am so excited. The movie is absolutely amazing. The movie is so, so good. I can’t wait for everybody to see it,” he expressed, adding, “The scale of it, it is so big, it is so epic. It spans thousands of years, it is all over the world, like truly, it is a global movie. It is very international. We go all over the world, so it’s really like the scale of it. It is one of the biggest movies I have ever seen.”

The actor admits that becoming a superhero has been “a dream of mine for a few years.” “I really want to be a superhero in a Marvel movie, and then I was like, ‘How do I do it?'” he recalled. “And then I just got very lucky.”

[From Entertainment Tonight]

We’ve had low-key stories over the years about how Angelina is well-loved by costars, especially her younger costars. I actually didn’t know that Angelina was the kind of person who just hangs out on set instead of going back to her trailer. I wonder if that was specific to this movie though, and working with Chloe Zhao. Angelina is a director too, and I bet she wanted to see how Chloe worked, and how a big Marvel movie worked as well. Anyway, this cast really seemed to have the best time working together. The Eternals 2??

Kumail Nanjiani arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Sony Pictures' 'Spider-Man Far From Home' held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on June 26, 2019 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.

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11 Responses to “Kumail Nanjiani ‘learned so much’ from watching Angelina Jolie & Salma Hayek”

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  1. Seraphina says:

    Watched Kumail in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (husband chose movie not me). Terrible movie but Kumail was great in his small part. have payed attention ever since.

    Can’t wait to see the movie.

  2. Zut Alors says:

    I watched him on Jimmy Kimmel and he got emotional talking about how excited his Dad was to see him in this movie. I like that he’s not acting blasé about the biggest gig of his career.

    • molly says:

      No drama movie sets aren’t great from a gossip standpoint, but it’s always nice to hear about people who show up, enjoy the work, and get excited about the legit cool things they get to do. Kumail seems like a good egg.

  3. SarahCS says:

    This is the sort of movie I would absolutely LOVE to see at the cinema but even if our cases here in the UK weren’t sky high (1 in every 55 people infected in week ending 16th Oct and still rising since), I’m a long way off being ready for that. Boo.

  4. lucy2 says:

    I’m not interested in the film, but it’s nice to hear about a large cast all getting along and working well together.
    Kumail seems like a decent guy.

  5. Ann says:

    I absolutely loved his movie “The Big Sick,” which is based on his real life relationship with his wife. If you haven’t seen it, check it out, it’s lovely.

    • Christina says:

      I loved The Big Sick, too. It was nice to see a version of a Pakistani family that was not watered down for US consumption. It reminded me of the Mexican house I grew up in: the meddling into the love lives of children, the laughter, the guilt.

    • BeanieBean says:

      Kumail & Emily had a podcast during the pandemic–well, during the earlier party, since it’s still going on. They both sound like such lovely people.

  6. Eve says:

    I’m so, so, so there!

  7. PeacefulParsley says:

    This is lovely. It gives me hope because this is where we are headed: a male actor credits female actors for what he has learned from them about their profession. It’s such a refreshing change from the idea that men ruled the business and women had nothing to offer beyond their physical appearance.

  8. Kay says:

    I think Angelina and Salma have more experience working in films that Chloe – this is Chloe’s first big film. Angelina also knows a lot about action films I believe she was very hands on in the film and she normally has her own stunt crew when she does action films who she trusts. I don’t really like her British accent in the film – there is enough British accents in the film not sure why she had to speak with a British accent – she sounds like Madonna. I think the film will be compared to Dune to which is also out.