Lauren Ridloff is making waves as the first deaf actress to play a deaf superhero in the Marvel movie Eternals, where she plays Makkari, a hearing-impaired hero with super speed.
Makkari was actually changed from the comic books; originally, the character was a white, hearing male, but director Chloé Zhao wanted to make the cast more diverse.
The director succeeded, as Eternals is one of the most diverse films to come out under the Marvel umbrella. A sequel is already the way as well, according to a special post credit scene.
Another huge piece of Marvel info also happened in the ending credits. A new character (to the Marvel movies) was introduced: Eros/Starfox, played by pop singer Harry Styles.
Ridloff recently shared a heartwarming anecdote about filming a scene with Styles.
The scene, which was later cut from the movie, involves the Eternals cast sitting around their starship Domo attempting to contact Arishem the celestial. Everyone was sitting close to each other and they had their eyes closed.
Because Ridloff is deaf, her interpreter would have to tap her on the shoulder between takes to let her know the director said cut. That’s when Styles stepped in to help.
He asked Ridloff if it was ok to let her know when the scene ended so the interpreter wouldn’t have to.
“Chloe would say, ‘Cut,’ and every time she yelled, ‘Cut,’ the interpreter would have to run around and tap me on the shoulder. So after a couple times, Harry was just like, ‘Is it okay if I just tap you and cue you when we stop shooting? I was like, ‘Yeah, thank you!’ That’s just who Harry is: He just watches out, and he thinks: ‘What can I do?'”
That’s not the only nice thing Styles’ costars had to say about him. Salma Hayek, who plays Ajak in the movie, said that the pop singer was a pleasure to work with from the moment he stepped on set.
“He arrived, and he was just like part of us, immediately,” she said.