Chloe Zhao says her 'Eternals' pitch to Marvel boss had a William Blake poem

Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloe Zhao says her pitch to Marvel boss Kevin Feige for directing "Eternals" began with a poem by William Blake poem, because she wanted to make a superhero film whose scale was "as large as the creation of the sun" and yet as intimate as "whispers of lovers".

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The 39-year-old director, known for her humane stories set against sweeping vistas such as "Songs my Brothers Taught Me", "The Rider" and Oscar-winning film "Nomadland", said she wanted to go big scale-wise while retaining the intimate tone of the story.

"Well, it started with me showing him (Feige) a macro photo of sand and then quoting a poem from William Blake. I still was allowed to stay in the room so it was really nice.

"But in that poem, William Blake was trying to convey that you can see the endless beauty and the meanings of the cosmos within the smallest things you can find on Earth," Zhao revealed in a virtual global press conference on Tuesday night from Los Angeles.

"The vision of the film was to set out to capture that scale, something as large as the creation of the sun, and as intimate as whispers of lovers. So, going on location, doing this kind of immersive shoot, having the support and understanding of this amazing cast was kind of how we got here today," she added.

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The Eternals are an alien race living on Earth for over 7,000 years who team up to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.

Jolie plays an elite Eternal in Thena and the actor said she was a fan of the MCU and director Zhao. Also starring Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh and Laura Ridloff, "Eternals" is set for release in Indian theatres on November 5 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

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