Marvel actor Kumail Nanjiani said he went to therapy after reading negative reviews for his 2021 appearance in Eternals.
Nanjiani discussed his experience during a Tuesday appearance on Inside of You Podcast with Michael Rosenbaum. The actor noted Eternals received scathing reviews upon its release and he was "too aware of it."
“I was reading every review and checking too much," Nanjiani said. “It was really, really hard because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted."
Nanjiani said he believed there was "some weird soup in the atmosphere" for the film's negative reaction, adding "I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie."
“It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore," Nanjiani continued. "Some s--- has to change, so I started counseling."
The actor said he is still in counseling for his experience with negative reviews of Eternals.
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The actor said his wife believes he has trauma from critics panning the film.
“We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, 'That was tough, wasn’t it?'" Nanjiani continued. "He’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough,’ and I think we all went through something similar.”
In a 2019 Instagram post, Nanjiani said he hired trainers who helped him put on 25 pounds of muscle for his role in the film.
"I found out a year ago I was going to be in Marvel’s Eternals and decided I wanted to transform how I looked," the actor captioned his post. "I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world.
"I’m glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before," he added.
Eternals is based on the 1976 Marvel Comic series of the same name.
Along with Nanjiani, Eternals features an ensemble cast of Hollywood stars including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Kit Harington, among others.
The film currently has a 47% critic rating and a 77% audience rating, per Rotten Tomatoes.
