Image Source: WIRED, DevianArt
The 26th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Eternals, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloe Zhao is finally playing in theatres after it had to face a lot of issues, especially with the releasing date as it had to continuously shift due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic which made thing if not worst definitely uncertain for the industry because of the shutting down of theatres.
Two of the biggest names from the diverse cast list of the superhero epic Angelina Jolie and Salam Hayek while having a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, extensively spoke about the film character Thena, a member of the superhero team Eternals, who holds the responsibility of protecting the universe from evil creatures together with her co-team mates using her superhuman powers like energy blasts and illusion generation, provided by MCU’s version of Gods known as Celestials.
"She has a conflict and a moment where she gets an illness, where she kind of goes crazy," Hayek says. "That's how we perceive it, but in reality, she's actually tapping into a very strong intuition that women have. I find this incredibly deep because a lot of times women who have a different perspective, a different vision, a strong intuition that breaks through the fakeness of the world and the hypocrisy — it's called crazy. This has been happening through the entire history of the world,” Hayek began, going into the various details related to her co-star’s hero Thena, emphasizing how the character went about in dealing with one of her main struggles in the film which is dealing with the Eternal affliction Mahd Wy'ry that impacted her for centuries and made her ill but she fought it channeling "a strong intuition,” Hayek described it as something that all the women in the world have in the real world.
Jolie chimed in, further elaborating on what her friend said. "[Thena] does have what would be, I suppose, considered a mental health [issue]. She struggles with her mental health. But I think to Salma's point, it's a question of what other people's perception is of somebody being unhealthy mentally, or unbalanced, or labeled as crazy. She's actually trying to deal with something very real, and maybe sometimes the weight of that comes out in a way that isn't understood… There are a lot of strong, amazing people also struggle with their mental health. And to Salma's point, that doesn't mean they're broken."
Leaving aside all the detail about the movie, despite being criticized heavily from the critics along with Marvel fans for the lack of providing proper screentime to all the superhero characters in the epic, Marvel Studios produced The Eternal is not performing as expected by the studio by it has still managed to become the second most grossed film at the box office worldwide after the effects of the pandemic.
An Image starring The Eternals superstars Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. Source: Screen Rant
Along with Angelina Jolie in the role of Thena, Salma Hayek in the role of Ajak, Marvel Studios The Eternals also starred Richard Madden in the role of Ikaris, Gemma Chan in the role of Sersi, Lauren Ridloff in the role of Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as the first gay superhero Phastos, Lia McHugh in the role of Sprite, Kumail Nanjiani in the role of Kingo, Barry Keoghan in the role of Druig, Don Lee in the role of Gilgamesh, Kit Harington in the role of Dane Whitman with additional actors which includes Harish Patel, Haaz Steiman in the role of Phastos' husband, Ozer Ercan in the role of a smuggler and Zain Al Rafeea in an unknown role.
