‘Eternals’ Director Says the Film Had an “Unlimited Amount of Money and Resources”

Chloé Zhao is back with a new film, Hamnet, marking her first project since directing Marvel’s Eternals.

The superhero blockbuster had a budget far larger than Zhao’s previous films, including her acclaimed dramas The Rider and Nomadland, the latter of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. While critics were mixed on Eternals, Zhao sees it as an important stepping stone toward her current work.

“Eternals prepared me for Hamnet because it’s world-building. Before that, I had only done films that existed in the real world. I also learned what to do and not to do—what’s realistic and what isn’t,” Zhao explained.

She added, “Eternals had, like, an unlimited amount of money and resources. And here we have one street corner that we can afford, to [stand in for] Stratford…. Eternals didn’t have a lot of limitations, and that is actually quite dangerous. Because we only have that street corner [in Hamnet], suddenly everything has meaning.”

For Hamnet, Zhao also had support from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes. “Their feedback was very filmmaker-driven because they’re both incredible filmmakers, so when they gave me notes, they were already infused with what they knew was my style,” she said.

“Even when I did things that probably were confusing or didn’t make sense to people, they would say, ‘You know what? We trust her. Let her do her thing.’”

Eternals, released in 2021, is a Marvel superhero film that follows a group of immortal beings who return to Earth after thousands of years to fight their ancient enemies, the Deviants.

It is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first major feature following Endgame. Zhao co-wrote the film with Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo.

The ensemble cast includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie.

Critics gave mixed reviews to Eternals. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 47% approval rating based on 417 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6 out of 10.

The site’s consensus reads, “An ambitious superhero epic that soars as often as it strains, Eternals takes the MCU in intriguing—and occasionally confounding—new directions.” On Metacritic, the film has a score of 52 out of 100, signaling “mixed or average” reviews. CinemaScore polls showed audiences gave the film a “B,” the lowest grade for an MCU movie at its release, while PostTrak reported 78% of viewers responded positively.

Financially, Eternals earned $164.9 million in the United States and Canada and $237.2 million internationally, for a global total of $402.1 million. Its opening weekend brought in $162 million worldwide, including over $13.6 million from IMAX screenings, making it the second-largest global debut for a Hollywood film during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhao’s experience with Eternals gave her insights into handling large-scale productions, which she is now applying to Hamnet in a more focused and intimate way.

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