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on 12 Aug 1919
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In the $1 billion box office success Captain Marvel, Gemma Chan played Minn-Erva, a member of the elite Kree Starforce unit that included Brie Larson's Carol Danvers and Jude Law's Yon-Rogg. According to a new report in Variety, it now appears that Chan will also be joining the cast of Marvel Studios' Phase Four entry The Eternals, which features the like of Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani and Angelina Jolie. The thing is, she might not be playing Minn-Erva again.
Per Variety's sources, “it's unknown if she will be playing the same role” in The Eternals as the one she portrayed in Captain Marvel:
Some sources have indicated that her part in The Eternals would be a completely different role, which if true, would mark one of the first times a star will have played two different characters in the same cinematic universe.
To be clear, should Chan's alleged talks with Marvel Studios to join director Chloe Zhao's new film succeed, then she truly would be one of the first performers to play multiple roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As big as this list might seem, though, it's actually not. For example, Josh Brolin played Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as well as Guardians of the Galaxy and a post-credits scene or two, and Cable in Deadpool 2. The thing is, the Deadpool films aren't part of the MCU, officially.
It's the same for Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan, who have played Captain America and Erik Killmonger respectively in the MCU, but have also portrayed two differents versions of Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies. Yes, they're all based on Marvel Comics properties, but not all of them are a part of the MCU, which specifically includes films or other media made specifically by Marvel Studios.
So, who else has actually starred in multiple MCU-connected properties? Scottish actor Tony Curran briefly played Thor's ancestor Bor in Thor: The Dark World and the Daredevil second season villain Finn. Alfre Woodard played both the Luke Cage villain Mariah Dillard and the mother of a victim of collateral damage in Captain America: Civil War. As for the films themselves, there's Captain America: The First Avenger star Kenneth Choi, who later played that character's grandson in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Did we miss anyone?
Most actors these days need to know how to take a punch. That’s because, as superhero franchises dominate the box office and high-octane action continues to sell out theaters, Hollywood is banking on the “tough guy,” the hero who can save the day and also, kick a ton of a**. The only thing that sells more than sex is violence, and cinema has found a way to perfect the formula, giving us muscled masculinity coupled with a hint of morality and snarky dialogue. We like to see these bros beat the bad guys to a pulp, save the world, land the girl, and crack a few jokes along the way to keep things light.
For men, these characters represent an idyllic, if unattainable, form of machismo with their hulking frames and fighting prowess. For women, they play into a fantasy trope, the strong noble white knight, the modern form of chivalry - just with more muscle tees and steroids. But, because our idea of masculinity continues to evolve, we’re now questioning if these “tough guys” really make for the most realistic idols.
A recent article from the Wall Street Journal took a look at the contracts of three action stars who’ve become household names - Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham, and Vin Diesel. All three men have shared the screen in the Fast & Furious franchise with Johnson and Statham headlining the latest installment, Hobbs & Shaw. That film sees the two former enemies teaming up to defeat a new villain in Idris Elba’s enhanced mercenary, Brixton, which is a good thing because it seems neither of these A-Listers enjoys losing, especially to each other.
The article details how Johnson and Shaw negotiated previous fight scenes involving their characters, nitpicking everything from how many punches were thrown, who was shoved through which drywalls and glass windows, and, most importantly, which man would come out on top. Diesel, who’s grown the franchise from the ground up, once suggested a point system to ensure he’d never seem the weaker of his two co-stars, while Statham has put contractual limits on how badly he can be beaten up on screen, and Johnson employs fight coordinators to guarantee he appears to be the most technically proficient fighter of the group.
It’s diva behavior, to be sure, and it’d earn nothing more than an eye-roll from those amongst us who have already recognized how exhaustingly childish the effects of toxic masculinity can be, but there’s another reason these revelations matter - besides confirming that, unlike the brutish men they play on-screen, these stars are fussy, vain, and just a bit fragile.
As the Fast & Furious franchise as worn on, the explosions have gotten bigger, the chase sequences more thrilling, and the fight scenes more absurd. We’ve seen men thrown from buildings, leaping over lanes of traffic, and trading blows with blunt objects and scrap metal, emerging relatively unscathed with no clear winner. It’s the kind of hollow, low-stakes action that’s come to define the series, action that’s on full display in Hobbs & Shaw. We know none of these men are going to seriously injure or kill the other - their box office draw is too great to waste - and now, thanks to this report on their lengthy fight clauses, we know we’ll probably never have a clear winner should they once again face off against each other.
And that’s the most concerning consequence of letting these men, who have crafted acting careers largely based on their physical prowess and overexaggerated manliness, have the final word in how “unmanly” they’re willing to be seen in a fistfight. If no one can win, if beloved characters aren’t at risk if these dudes aren’t willing to get knocked down every now and then, why should we be invested?
h the release of this week's “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino is pairing his love of pop culture references with his penchant for historical revisionism in a sprawling portrait of the film industry in 1969. While Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio play fictional actors, the film features characters such as Sharon Tate, Bruce Lee, Roman Polanski, and Steve McQueen.
To get you ready for the movie, here are seven more great performances by actors portraying real actors.
Robert Downey Jr. in “Chaplin”While the 1992 Richard Attenborough-directed biopic was criticized for applying too wide a lens to Chaplin's sprawling life, Robert Downey Jr. received near-universal praise for his performance as the comedy icon. And for good reason. His Oscar-nominated performance cemented his transition from heartthrob to serious movie star to one of the best actors of his generation.
Photo : Snap Stills/Shutterstock Martin Landau in “Ed Wood”Martin Landau famously described his role of Bela Lugosi as using his own career comeback to give Lugosi the final role he deserved. Tim Burton's tribute to B-movie king Ed Wood is full of memorable performances, but few of them shine as brightly as Landau, who took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance.
Photo : Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock Jim Carrey as Andy KaufmanJim Carrey's performance as the famously eccentric comedian was so intense, it gave us two movies. The 1999 biopic “Man on the Moon” was a competent tribute to Andy Kaufman, with Carrey running through the comic's greatest hits with impressive detail.
But the far more interesting film is 2017's “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” a documentary following Carrey's incredible transformation into Kaufman. His intense method acting reveals the similarities between the two men, and the difficult time Carrey had separating himself from the persona. The result is one of the most captivating entertainment industry documentaries in recent memory.
Photo : Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Willem Dafoe in “Shadow of the Vampire”Before Daniel Day-Lewis and Jared Leto, there was Max Schreck. Willem Dafoe plays the hardcore method actor in this film about the making of “Nosferatu.” Schreck only worked at night and never broke character, frightening the crew of the horror classic. “Shadow of the Vampire” is notable for its application of silent film techniques to tell the story of one of the great silent films of all time.
Photo : Jean-Paul Kieffer/BBC/Delux/Metrodome/Kobal/Shutterstock Cate Blanchett in “The Aviator”Cate Blanchett won her first Oscar for playing Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic. In a lesser film, the eccentric businessman's relationship with the star might have been reduced a historical footnote. But Blanchett's performance, equal parts plane-loving adventurer and deeply concerned lover, is one of the film's highlights.
Photo : Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Ben Affleck in “Hollywoodland”“Argo” and “Gone Baby Gone” rightfully receive credit for reintroducing us to Ben Affleck in the aftermath of “Gigli.” But his mid-career renaissance really began with “Hollywoodland,” turning in a stellar performance as George Reeves, TV's Superman. A murder mystery about the actor's suspicious death, Affleck's flashback performance is the beating heart of the film, scoring him a much-needed Golden Globe nomination.
Photo : Focus/Kobal/Shutterstock Michelle Williams in “My Week With Marilyn”This breezy crowd-pleaser of a film is elevated by Williams' Golden Globe-winning performance as Marilyn Monroe. Portraying the star on vacation and away from the pressures of Hollywood allowed for a fresh portrait of a woman that many only know through her onscreen personas.
