Kumail Nanjiani Says John McClane Inspired His Marvel ‘Eternals’ Character
Kumail Nanjiani will star as Kingo in Marvel's upcoming Eternals.
Nanjiani told Men's Health he was inspired by Bruce Willis' John McClane from Die Hard.
Nanjiani also took inspiration from Bollywood mega-star Hrithik Roshan for.
In Marvel’s upcoming Eternals, Kumail Nanjiani will play Kingo, a haughty cosmic being living on Earth as a beefy Bollywood star. Najiani’s transformation for the role—becoming beefy—has since thirst-trapped the entire internet and changed the face (literally, like, re-sculpted the visage) of the former comedic character actor. Nanjiani is jacked now? Hell yes he is.
In Men’s Health’s April cover story, Nanjiani takes us through that transformation. He says he knew exactly how he wanted to play Kingo: light, but also tense at the same time. He wanted Kingo to be Bollywood Bruce Willis. Marvel’s John McClane.
“I was like, ‘How can a character crack wise but still have tension, and not make it fee; like you’re making fun of the whole thing?’” Nanjiani explains.
Before Die Hard, Willis wasn’t the badass action star he’s since become; he was a rom-com TV actor. And so it’s not just Willis’ yippee-ki-yah attitude Nanjiani wants to capture. It’s also the actor’s genre turnaround.
In fact, Nanjiani has been gunning for a superhero roll for some time. Before Silicon Valley, Nanjiani auditioned for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. A fan of comics, Nanjiani was gutted when he didn’t get the part. “It was a pipe dream,” he says. So he played it smart. He started turning down side roles in comic-book projects, waiting for his break.
In 2018, he met with Marvel producers and that break came. But then with a huge task ahead of him: look the part.
He knew he wanted Willis’ action star charm. As for Kingo’s body, Kumail had a different source of inspiration, one straight out of Bollywood. “I went to my trainer and said, ‘I want to look like this guy,” Nanjiani says. “This guy” was Bollywood mega star Hrithik Roshan. If Nanjiani was going to be the first South Asian superhero, he didn’t want to be “the schlubby brown guy.” He wanted the Roshan bod.
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A post shared by Hrithik Roshan (@hrithikroshan) on Feb 19, 2020 at 11:24pm PST
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Mission accomplished. Question is: will Nanjiani stay on Earth with in his newly-acquired form?
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