Image Source: IMDb, Slashfilm, Wikipedia
Lauren Ridloff, set to feature in the role of superhero Makkari, a team member of the superhero squad Eternals which includes Salma Hayek as Ajak, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, while recently, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter revealed that she actually did not audition to star as Makkari in The Eternals, set to arrive in theatres on 5th November 2021.
Ridloff explained that she never auditioned for the role of Makkari and that her involvement in the superhero epic was almost natural as she sat down with the film director Chloe Zhao and producer Nate Moore to have a simple discussion around her character Makkari. "I didn’t audition for the role of Makkari, I was tapped, you could say. I was called for a sit-down meeting with Chloé and [producer] Nate Moore about a new untitled Marvel project. During that meeting, they introduced The Eternals to me and tried to capture the story and the people that make up the Eternals. The conversation shifted to Makkari, who Makkari was in the comics and would be in the film, but it was all broad strokes," Ridloff told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Walking Dead Actress Ridloff went on to say that in the discussion Zhao wanted to know more about her background "Chloé wanted to know who I was, so we spent some time talking about my upbringing, my interests, my passions," she said.
Ridloff continued saying that the Marvel Studio during the discussion did not commit if they were going to have her in The Eternals. "I told Chloé my passions: reading, running, the arts. They weren’t committing to anything specific during the meeting," she further added.
Source: Metro
The award-winning actress further explained that her conversation with the film director Zhao felt like a normal discussion rather than an audition as they were just asking her about random stuff and what is it that she knows about Eternals. "I wasn’t sure what was going on — it felt like just a conversation, more along the lines of 'Hey, what do you like? Who are you? We’re interested in you, maybe, for this film. Do you know anything about Eternals? Makkari? We have ideas … and here are our ideas.' I did not know much about Makkari or Jack Kirby’s Eternals before meeting with Chloé and Nate," she explained to THR.
Riddloff went on to reveal that after her conversation with the cast and crew of the much-awaited film she actually had to read a lot of comics to understand her character Makkari. "After the meeting, I went down The Eternals rabbit hole and read as much as I could, both Jack Kirby’s version and Neil Gaiman’s version. The next time we connected, it was to offer me the role of Makkari!," she further continued.
While the film takes its inspiration from the fictional superhero characters Eternals, appears in Marvel Comics, filmmaker Chloe Zhao serves as its director and it features an ensemble cast list of Salma Hayek in the role of Ajak, Angelina Jolie in the role of Thena, Brian Tyree Henry in the role Phastos, Richard Madden in the role of Ikaris, Gemma Chan in the role of Sersi, Lauren Ridloff in the role of Makkari, 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 including Harish Patel, Haaz Steiman as Phastos' husband, Ozer Ercan as a smuggler and Zain Al Rafeea in an unknown role.
