Kumail Nanjiani reflects on how Eternals changed his relationship with food
Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani dramatically transformed his body to play the Marvel superhero Kingo in Eternals
Aux News Kumail Nanjiani
Back in the comparatively free and innocent days of December 2019, Kumail Nanjiani shocked fans with the reveal that he had gotten astonishingly jacked for his role in Marvel’s Eternals. Then known for his role on Silicon Valley, the actor and comedian had clearly entered a new era.
“It felt, for a brief moment, powerful,” Nanjiani says in a new interview with NPR, via IndieWire. “And then after that, it was by and large negative. In the beginning, having that reaction from people–I’d never had that reaction before and I think part of me had always wanted it—it felt powerful. It felt really exciting. And then pretty quickly after that, it felt reductive, it felt naked, it felt vulnerable. And it made it so that the discussion of my body exists in the public sphere. It made it so that I can walk down the street and someone will just come up to me and say something about my body.”
Nanjiani previously noted that no one from Marvel asked him to go through this transformation and that he was inspired to do so by his childhood admiration of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. The process ultimately led the The Big Sick star to confront his “weird relationship with food” based on “guilt or regret.” Nanjiani had more to unpack when preparing for his latest role in Welcome To Chippendales, in which he plays a strip club owner whose relationship with body image contrasts with that of his employees.
“I realized that I had been so rigid with food and used it in so many unhealthy ways and then forcing myself to eat unhealthy amounts of unhealthy food in a way got me out of that trap,” he continues. “It’s still work to do, but it was freeing for months to just eat whatever I wanted, to eat as much as I wanted. It sort of freed me from some of the ways that I’ve been thinking about food.”
Some Marvel viewers have come to expect a particular look from these superpowered characters that is, well, not always possible for human actors to fulfill. This summer, Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein faced judgment over his brief cameo in Thor: Love And Thunder, and even more recently, onetime Marvel Comics artist Mike Deodato Jr. criticized Tenoch Huerta’s appearance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Welcome To Chippendales is now streaming weekly on Hulu. Nanjiani is also a producer on the Apple TV+ series Little America, which launches its second season tomorrow.
102 Comments
Sunflower seeds are delicious and filled with protein, but they are too high in fat to use as the sole diet for your gerbil.
Now you know!
I have complaints about Namor in BP2, but none of them relate to his appearance. He looked like Namor come to life.
What were they? I’m the biggest Namor fan in the world, and I loved Huerta.
No problems with Huerta, I thought he did great. I felt they got his name wrong: I’m a Nay-More guy. I also felt there was no reason to not have an Atlantis connection, which is a huge part of his story. Just say “For centuries, people have called Talokan Atlantis and so we adopted it” or something. Give us something.
I kind of hear what you’re saying, but they do pronounce it both ways in the film, and the “Sin Amor” bit was an amazing fortuitous adaptation.And while I kind of get the Atlantis point, it doesn’t actually make sense. “Atlantis” is a Greek idea that predates the discovery of the New World. It simply wouldn’t make any sense for that to apply to Talokan. I’m typically a bit of a stickler for canon, and I’ve always been obsesssed with Namor and Atlantis, but I found these changes to be the kind that challenged me but were ultimately super successful.Being Latino with significant indigenous heritage might be a slight factor in my enthusiasm for these changes, admittedly.
It can be hard to have a calm discussion because the internet flattens everything. This aren’t major complaints of mine, I liked him in the movie! I liked most of the movie. I think there was a good solid 2 hour movie in there if edited down a bit.For Atlantis, I think you can have it not make any sense to the character either and have them comment on it, but it’s such a keystone to Namor for me, up there with wings on his feet and pointy ears, that I think they should have found a way to work it in. “You idiot surface-worlders called us Atlantis, tsk”, something.
I have to assume that they considered doing just that, but ultimately decided against it, since it would create more holes than it would plug.
The moustache isn’t it? Or the accent?
No, I felt they got his name wrong, I’m a Nay-More guy. I also felt there was no reason to not have an Atlantis connection, which is a huge part of his story. Just say “For centuries, people have called Talokan Atlantis and so we adopted it” or something.
Agreed, but I assume there was some kind of “DC beat us to the punch” reasoning for the name.My only problem with the character was the absurd flapping of his ankle wings. In most of the best versions of Namor I used to read, they were vestigal and a symbol of his mutation, rather than actual flapping around and used to fly. Maneuver? Maybe. But the idea that those tiny little wings on his ankles are the source of flight for his whole body is silly, so why make them move like they are?
I think it probably did have something to do with Aquaman having already come out, but c’mon, you’re the MCU you don’t need to care what DC is doing.Do his ankle wings flap? is an interesting question. I always imagined they do move up and down, but gently, not like a hummingbird, and they aren’t generating thrust or anything. They do sometimes have motion lines around them to signify they’re moving, but more often they don’t have motion lines. If I recall, they do canonically relate somehow to his ability to fly, if they’re injured or ripped off, he can’t fly anymore.
I say we return to 1960s male beauty standards. If you’re worried about your paunch just suck in your gut for dear life and pray the take doesn’t last longer than 30 seconds.
The Robert Mitchum school of shirtless acting.
(3) C’mon girdle, hooooooold! – YouTube
What is that dude even holding in? He looks about 12% BF lean.
Yeah – he looks astonishingly fit for any decade.
I think that the “holding it in” comment is a reference to Shatner.
I assume he is referring to William Shatner who wore a girdle under his uniform.
The gut is the least of the problems with that guy’s look.
Can we also go with those blonde afros too? And the ‘What’s Sunscreen Labor Day Weekend’ burn?
That guy is pretty fit; it’s just that bodybuilding-dudes back then didn’t diet down to 7% body fat and then dehydrate themselves before they were photographed.I recall a story about Jason Mamoa asking a director, “Do I need to have abs and shit?” for a movie, because while he does have abs, he has to do the diet/dehydration thing to get them to look defined, and that process is un-fun.
he did a really great appearance on dax sheppard’s podcast with rob mcelhenney where they went fairly in-depth on their body image issues and working out. a dax sheppard podcast isn’t something i would normally listen to, but it was a very raw discussion you don’t normally hear from men.
Getting lots of positive attention for losing weight is really great until you realise how depressing it’s become.
He says about eating unhealthy food for ‘Welcome to Chippendales’ – does that mean he’s supposed to be ‘fat’ in that? I thought he looked like his arms were still MCU big and that’s why he’s wearing that suit for 90% of his screentime to cover them up.
And he gets a little taste of how it must be to be an actress in Hollywood.
The actresses are taking hgh too
Body image and the masculine ideal are totally perpetuated by the superhero genre, and Hollywood in general (as much as I love superhero movies, it’s still an issue). It’s an off-shoot of capitalism. Fat-phobia…and some kind of notion that a perfect body and desirability are tied to our worth as humans. All these messages they send make it hard to exist. It’s another form of tyranny. It hurts.It’s hard not to look at Chris Hemsworth and think – hey, this is what a man should be. And then the MCU did double down on this problem with a fat Thor. It wasn’t the worst choice. I think there was room for interpretation there. Anyone that laughed at Cheadle’s cheeze whiz joke in Endgame was probably missing the point. Anyone with a shred of empathy could see Thor was dealing with a mental and emotional turmoil, and he just let himself go. It was more of a bad look for Rhodey. Personally, I’m by no means fat – I do deal with body dismorphic disorder – but I have had obese family members, “over-weight” family members, and loved ones who just don’t fit the ideal shape. They were and are some of the most heroic people I’ve known. So ultimately, it sucks that we cant have a fat hero without all the shame and strange jokes around it. That would be a healthy thing to see. Not every superhero or actor has to be chiseled and cut and perfect.
Well put, and sorry that you’re dealing with body dysmorphia.
Having to eat and work out to maintain that level of jacked-ness must be debilitating mentally (if not physically) after a while. Also, anybody who thinks these guys are going from schlubby to fucking ripped without all of the pharmacy tricks their doctors can give them is delusional, so having to get on steroids and HGH must have shitty consequences too just so you can take your shirt off for 35 seconds.
Well they aren’t on steroids, at least not like body builders use. But they have a personal trainer/cook who are tailoring their meals and workouts. Getting jacked like that starting from a normal “dad” bod it 5 or 6 day a week workouts, multiple hours each day, and eating a very carefully dictated diet. Zac Efron talked about what it took to get him Baywatch jacked, even starting from a very fit body, saying he never wanted to do that again.
They are definitely 100% on steroids
Some might be. But given enough time and a proper personal trainer and diest you can get really damn close. Plus many times before filming shitless stuff they purposefully dehydrate themselves to look more “cut”. You can go from more or less average fit guy, to what Kumail did for Eternals like that. But it takes a lot of work to get there. Now if he went from say what he is now to like Rock level of jacked in a month or so then 100% on steroids.
Working out and eating a strict diet won’t change the shape of your head. Lol
This is just not true. Many of these Marvel actors are putting 10-20 lbs of lean muscle on in under a year. The most a non-juiced person would get is 4-5 lbs even at elite level in a very, very good year. It is simply impossible to get “damn close” to what they’re doing without PEDs.
It’s not Steroid. It’s called “protein” supplement and “anti inflamatory” pills./s
HGH.
Kumail’s face and skull are an IMAX sized billboard for HGH.
Well I never said no HGH, just no steroids lol. besides you can get HGH at GNC.
Um, you absolutely can’t. HGH is only available by prescription as an injectable drug.
https://www.gnc.com/muscle-builders/245975.html#q=hgh&lang=default&start=1Do I know if it’s real HGH I have no idea but they sure call it HGH.
This is an herbal supplement claiming to boost natural levels of hGrowth Hormone
Ahh well there you go, obviously I am not into the whole fitness thing lol.
It looks like it’s a supplement that “encourages” your body to make more HGH type hormones, and is not actually HGH itself.
“Nah man he just changed his diet and worked out a lot; lean proteins and HIIT routines are what transformed his physique and the…shape of his…skull.”
These dudes are on steroids. And here’s how you know.
Listen to any of their interviews, and they inadvertently tell on themselves by talking about just how much they train. 6 days, 7 days a week. 4+ hours a day. Anybody who knows human physiology and weight training knows that working out that much, particularly with weight training, isn’t conducive towards building muscle. In fact, it’s counter-productive, because you’re not giving your muscles enough time to rest, which is when muscle growth happens.
The ONLY way to counteract that is to take steroids, because not only do they have a muscle-building effect, they also help in muscle recovery, which is why many professional athletes who get popped for taking steroids began taking them after major injuries.
Further, a good diet, while important, can only do so much, especially for someone who spent most of their life not working out and who doesn’t particularly have good genetics or a background in athletics, such as Kumail. More evidence? Steroids greatly effect how your face looks. They age you significantly because they exacerbate the more masculine features of your frame, such as your jaw and your brow. Look at pictures of Kumail from before he signed on for Eternals and now. He looks 5-10 years older and previously soft features in his face are much harder. While some of that can be attributed to dieting, much of it is obviously the role of steroids.
When it comes to Zac Efron, his fundamental issue is that he’s not a particularly big dude to begin with. He’s only 5’8″, and while that’s a common height for bodybuilders, they’re also consuming an insane amount of calories on a near-daily basis in addition to heavy weight training and steroid use. Zac had to do something that’s really difficult: put on muscle while also getting incredibly lean. Doing that isn’t just difficult, it’s nearly impossible without steroids because the fuel you need for muscle building — food — will contribute to raw weight gain, which you then need to cut via cardio in order to lean out. However, the only way you lose weight is to be in a caloric deficit, and as I said above, you can only work out so much before you enter into overtraining territory. What substances help out in that regard? Steroids, because you can afford to eat less food, maintain a comparable amount of muscle gain, have the regenerative benefits of the steroids that allow you to avoid overtraining, and thus do more cardio that will help you get leaner without losing a significant amount of muscle mass.
The reason why many of these stars refuse to admit to steroids is because they think it will make them look bad (not to mention the legal implications). But the reality is that for the stars who aren’t former high-level athletes, the major way they get into this absolutely fantastic shape in less than 6 months (which is the usual lead-in time bewteen when they get cast and when filming begins) is through steroids.
Now I kinda want to do steroids.
I was just thinking, if only my prednisone worked that way…
No shit, right? I take a 5mg maintenence dose of prednisone daily, and I’m not even close to shredded.
… Zac Efron definitely looked like he was on steroids in that era. The thick neck, the water retention, the redness. He talked publicly about his insomnia and mood swings, which are common side effects of PED use. He acknowledged using Lasix, a diuretic used to combat water retention in people with high blood pressure (another PED side effect). I’m not his doctor, but as an outside observer he looked pretty unnatural at the time.
Six pack abs are made in the kitchen, not by doing 100 stomach crunches a day.
High blood pressure changed my relationship with food. No stardom required!
Buff Kumail is just one of those things I’m going to eventually get used to like Hannibal Buress without glasses.
Absolutely shook to learn that Hannibal got LASIK like 6 years ago. Have I never seen new clips of him? Have I seen new clips but mentally added glasses? This has rocked me to my very core.
I remember seeing Hannibal perform soon after he got lasik and he made a joke about himself looking like Milhouse without his glasses.
it was odd that he got so jacked for a movie where he wears bodysuit the whole time.
Exactly my thoughts. With the all the attention surrounding his physique, I was surprised he didn’t really even show it in the movie. He got no MCU beefcake shots like Evans, Hemsworth, Pratt, Jordan, etc. What was the point?
One of the things I’ve read is that many of the studios and the performers dislike having to wear muscle-pads as part of their costumes because of the restrictive nature and how it photographs, so they’d rather be legitimately big (or big(ger), because most of these actors aside from the Rock aren’t actually that big compared to most professional male athletes, they simply photograph bigger compared to the average actor) rather than be suited up with a bunch of muscle padding.
For reference, Zac is 5’8″ and Kumail is 5’9″. Neither of them are touching 200lbs and neither can really be called big. Lean? Yes. Ripped? Sure. Big? Not compared to any decent athlete over 6 foot, or to the actors who can literally lay claim to that title (The Rock, Jason Momoa, Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth)
Yeah that’s part of it. Kumail said on a podcast the largest he got was like 150ish? They’re not putting on a ton of muscle all things considered, it’s another part of the “movie magic” where lighting, blocking, and doing pushups between every take gives off an impression beyond the physical. It’s not necessarily unattainable, but the speed they’re bulking up is absolutely impossible without gear, and I wish they’d just be honest that there’s no way someone can do that in a month or two or three just with diet and exercise.
The entire shape of his skull morphed. It’s definitely roids and hgh.
It’s worth noting that Kumail was notorious for being a gym buff even 10 years ago.This isn’t a Pratt/McElhenny situation – it’s that surprisingly ripped guy from work deciding to spend a year getting superhero swole.
Especially since no one asked him to bulk up! If I’m going on a 6-month steroids and HGH bender, it better be because I’m shirtless in every scene and also Kevin Feige personally came to my house and called me fat.
He did say no one at Marvel asked him too. They didn’t think it was needed either.
I think he might be stretching the truth in their favor there, but if it is – society and everyone who knows him watched this dude openly develop an acute eating disorder and either cheered him on or thought “eh, well, that’s normal for his job.”
I am sure they wanted him fit. I am sure they wanted him in shape. I am not sure they required that level of ‘in shape’.
They didn’t ask him to have jaw implant surgery either.He was once a funny comedian, but his ego was always quietly out-of-control.Marvel provided him with the resources (trainers, dieticians, and “supplements”), and he saw the path of least resistance to achieve a physique that matches his goals (serious movie roles, cheating on his immuno-comprimised wife during COVID lockdown, etc.).There are a ton of articles that will tell you that it’s racist to call out his “transformation” for its very obvious incorporation of steroids. I really don’t care that he used steroids, but I do care that he lied about it.
Buff Kumail has not said or done a single funny thing. he’s so self-serious now. Buff Mac is also far less funny than Fat Mac. I know those are just dumb anecdotes, but seems to me that being a gym rat does gel with humor.
See also: Fat Pratt.
Jonah Hill too
To be fair, no one was really listening to fat Chris Pratt, he only got an international spotlight after Marvel.I’m pretty sure fatpratt was as big of a douche as he is now.
Buff Mac is far less funny that Fat Mac, but buff Ian is still pretty funny on Mythic Quest.
Will Sasso did it first.
That’s because it’s depressing to be working out that much and it really messes with your head if you start for a position of being fat, and this is just anecdotal from my experience. I cut over 30 kilos in under a year and went from doing nothing to triathlons, it was great and I’d never been healthier but…My entire life revolved around running, cycling and swimming – that was it, that was all I was doing when I wasn’t working, and it was pissing people off around me because you’d have the normal office small talk, oh what are you doing later, “running”, what did you do this weekend? “Running and cycling”.Once the initial “holy shit you’ve lost weight” talk is over, and all you’re doing is the same thing, day in day out, it annoys the people around you.Add that to the fact it then messes with your head, because you suddenly get this influx of positive attention because “wow you’ve lost all this weight – you look good”, people you know are complimenting you, strangers are nicer to you because we’re a shitty society, and you don’t want that to stop, so you can’t stop doing the thing that in turn is making you less interesting to your friends.It’s depressing as hell, you get up, maybe go for an hour’s swim at 6am, work a full day, then maybe go running or cycling for a few hours in the evening, you’re not drinking alcohol socially or going out much, because you have to get up early the next day to do it all over again, because now you’re in the position where you have to maintain it because you don’t want to go backwards.Yeah, it does not gel with a sense of humour, at all.
What do you mean? He was just on Conan’s podcast and was hilarious. He was also starting to get pretty jacked in the last season of Silicon Valley.
Even in 2000 a superhero could have normal workout muscles instead of a wiry skin stretching mass of pulsing veins.
Right? I almost feel like male body image perception is worse than for women right now. The unhealthily thin runway models aren’t really in vogue anymore.
The unhealthily thin runway models aren’t really in vogue anymore
Um, I’m gonna guess you don’t follow fashion. Heroin chic is back, the Kardashians are all getting butt reductions, and runway models never really got larger than size 0. You might see some token plus size models, but the industry is still fucked.
Right, and even during thicc’s brief time in the sun, the goal was being slim thicc; the girls getting BBLs were all going for a specific look.
And the token plus size models always still have perfect hourglass figures, just larger.
I think your right. Women are expected to be skinny. So basically that is just about calorie restriction. Men are expected to be both muscular and defined. Unless you are blessed with good genetics that is very hard to do. Fitness models need to bulk up and then cut drastically before a photo shoot. It creates a unrealistic expectation of what a male body can look like. Most people cannot be both defined and muscular at the same time absent adopting that cycle.
No:https://nypost.com/2022/11/02/heroin-chic-is-back-and-curvy-bodies-big-butts-are-out/Also, even when heroin chic was “out” (keeping in mind that being thin for women was never out of style), what was “in” was the tiny waist, BBL look that most women cannot achieve naturally. There has never been a time when normal bodies for women has been acceptable. Meanwhile the “dad bod” being sexy has been going on for years.
lol, “dad bod” is only considered “sexy” by insecure women who don’t want a guy that makes them feel bad about their own fatness.
It’s like just as we were trying to de-Rob Liefeld-ify comics, somehow they did it in real life instead.
Come on, now…we can see the characters’ feet.
☠️
For what it’s worth, Jackman looked relatively normal in X-Men because he got cast in the part super late (I think he might have been a replacement?) and didn’t have time to get huge and cut.
is that gaz?
That’s great for him, but he’s still being dishonest. In the amount of time he had, it was far too drastic of a change to be completely natural. It messes up everyone’s perceptions of what is achievable. The only actor I think was honest was Rob McElhenny.We always talk about female body image and how that’s influenced by unhealthy looking runway models, but what about male body image?At least Stallone and Schwarzenegger never tried to pretend that if you just diet and work out you’ll look just like them!
Your right, but I think it’s starting to change. Take Robert Pattison refusing to get ripped for Batman. From my perspective, while there were people who criticized his decision, I saw more commending it. My sincere wish is that it stops, because I’ve read of the mild dehydration male actors subject themselves through to make their muscles pop, and it sounds like it should be included in the UN’s definition of torture. Self induced, but still.
They didn’t ask him to have jaw implant surgery either.He was once a funny comedian, but his ego was always quietly out-of-control.Marvel provided him with the resources (trainers, dieticians, and “supplements”), and he saw the path of least resistance to achieve a physique that matches his goals (serious movie roles, cheating on his immuno-comprimised wife during COVID lockdown, etc.).There are a ton of articles that will tell you that it’s racist to call out his “transformation” for its very obvious incorporation of steroids. I really don’t care that he used steroids, but I do care that he lied about it.
Good reminder that Mike Deodato is a total fucking asshole.
And delusional. I get that these jacked up bodies are more for other men than for sex appeal, but as a lady, let me say that Huerta blows him out of the water. He is 20,000 leagues ahead of him. He also brought a nice physicality to a role that involved little foot wings and CGI underwater sequences, which says a lot. There’s more to embodying a character than defined bulge and action poses.
100%.It also merits mention that it’s really hard (and totally pointless) for someone with massively superhuman strength to get crazy jacked like that. Namor is a powerhouse regardless with zero need to exist in a state of perpetual ketoacidosis for the same of the ‘gram.
Did he encounter the sandwich that bites you?
no one from Marvel asked him to go through this transformation and that he was inspired to do so by his childhood admiration of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.This may not be 100 % BS but it’s close.
I can believe Marvel didn’t ask; they probably hired him as comic relief and didn’t really care if he was jacked or not. I have no idea if the Stallone and Schwarzenegger stuff is true.
None of the other male actors in the Eternals were particularly jacked. Richard Madden has always been in decent shape.
Counter point: Brian Tyree Henry said the same and was his regular looking self.
IIRC he did multiple photoshoots in his jacked new body around that time. And he’s surprised at the comments? I am sad for him a little bit (because it seems like it took over his life) but this is ridiculous.
Kumail gotta be careful saying stuff like this, I don’t think you’re supposed to admit that diet plays a role in fitness anymore.
Couple of stories tying into this discussion:On Top Gun Maverick, the beach scene. One of the actors was stating how they trained their asses off and basically starved themselves for several weeks leading up to it so they could look as shredded as possible. Once the scene was shot the director took everyone out for a fast food feast to celebrate. 2 days later Cruise looked at the dailies and said they had to reshoot a bunch of it. The actor said it was like finding out parole was revoked. It took them about another 10 days to get into the “proper” shape after just 1-2 days of junk/regular food eating.Channin Tatum while training for Magic Mike 3 said it is near impossible at age 40 to get into shape he was 10 years ago. He can maybe get into the right look for a day or two but it is not sustainable for longer than that. Fat Mac had a post when he got into the crazy good shape for that season of “Its Always Sunny” that was completely tongue in cheek saying “anyone can get into this shape. You just need { work out 6 days a week, run 3 miles a day, have studio pay for Magic Mike trainer, no sugar, no eating after 7…and a host of other restrictions}. Wolverine/Jackman always make sme laugh that his first appearance he basically has a healthy “Dad-Bod” with barely any muscle tone…and less than 10 years later he could almost complete for a body-building show…especially how bulky he was for “:Days of Future Past.”