Kumail Nanjiani got candid about his experience working on the critically panned Marvel movie “Eternals” on a recent episode of NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin, saying that the film changed how he approached work — something he’s “very grateful for.”
“I’m very proud of my performance in it,” he said. “And it’s rare to say, but I actually wouldn’t change anything about how I am in that movie.”
The actor and comedian played the superhero Kingo in the 2021 fantasy film alongside other stars Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan and Angelina Jolie. Despite the stacked cast, the film opened to disappointing box office and lukewarm reviews from critics.
On the podcast, Nanjiani went on to share his biggest takeaways from the experience, including the importance of separating “my experience of something versus the result of something.”
“Most times if I’m acting in something, I do not get to decide how good it’s gonna be,” the “Silicon Valley” star explained. “I do not get to choose how the audience is going to receive it. I do not get to choose how much money it’s going to make. I do not get to choose what the reviewers are going to think of it. What I do get to choose is whether or not I learned from it, you know? So to me, that’s been a thing that I have to remind myself over and over and over and over – is that a failure is not a failure. It truly is an opportunity to learn… What I can control is learning from every job and taking a joyful approach to every job.”
In the past, Nanjiani has been open about his feelings around the project, discussing how the negative reception of “Eternals” led him to therapy on fellow stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia’s “Working It Out” podcast.
“I signed on for six movies,” said Nanjiani. “They make you sign up for all this stuff… and then none of that happened.”
Most recently, the actor returned to the stage for the first time in a decade for his newly released Hulu comedy special “Night Thoughts. ”