Kumail Nanjiani loved working with Chloe Zhao on Eternals

Kumail Nanjiani wishes he could work with Chloe Zhao “for the rest of [his] career”.

The 43-year-old actor was very impressed with all elements of the filmmaker’s direction on ‘Eternals’ and he thinks she has a lot of depths and expertise that many people don’t expect because of her previous work.

He told SFX magazine: “If I only worked with Chloe Zhao for the rest of my career, I would be thrilled.

“People think of her movies before ‘Eternals’ as being these intimate character pieces.

“They are that, but they are also epic in many ways.

“I was surprised at how good she was at action as well. I didn’t know this about Chloe until I met her, but she’s a massive comic book fan and a huge nerd – she spoke at Marvel conferences before she signed on to do a Marvel movie.”

The ‘Silicon Valley’ actor admitted ‘Eternals’ wasn’t just the biggest thing he’d ever done, it was one of the biggest movies ever made. But although he felt “very cared for” on set, he insisted the “actual work” wasn’t much different.

Asked if ‘Eternals’ felt like it was on a different scale when he was working on it, he said: “I think that’s an understatement because it’s by far the biggest thing I’ve ever done – it’s one of the biggest things that’s ever been done.

“It feels different in the sense that the shoot is much longer. I’ve done other movies that shoot for three or four weeks and that’s it, and movies where you don’t have a trailer and you’re all hanging out in the same room.

“With this, you certainly feel very cared for and the food is way better.

“But the actual work when you’re there in front of the camera doesn’t feel that different.”