Here’s what Mahershala Ali told Stephen Colbert on the Late Show recently: “The anticipation is so great…my excitement for any role is pretty equal, honestly, because I feel the responsibility is always the same. But I’ve never walked into a role where the anticipation of it was so great. Where people were already so familiar with the character. And have real opinions, and points of view, and all that. So it feels different. There’s clearly an added layer of pressure, which…I will embrace…You just lose a lot of sleep over it. I was losing sleep over this line [the one he says in the after-credits scene in ETERNALS] because, ideally, you want to be talking once you are filming… and 100% of the time, my first day on any set, on any job, I hate it. I hate how I sound. I don’t believe myself, ya know. So you’re trying to get comfortable in the character…so to have to talk before you’re even actually filming was challenging. But I’m grateful for it. Because it makes it feel real. It’s like okay, now we’re going. Now I gotta get swole and jacked.”
Initially I was somewhat apathetic to the idea of Ali taking on the role, but clearly he has the respect for it that he should have. I’m feeling a lot better about it.