If someone had told you a few years back that one day in the not too distant future, One Direction member and teen heartthrob Harry Styles would have not only starred in a Christopher Nolan movie, but gone on to land a plum role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s a high chance you’d have been laughed out of the building.
As far as transitions from music to acting go, few have gotten off to a better start than Styles. At the moment, the 27-year-old has precisely two feature film credits under his belt; one in the highest-grossing World War II film ever made that earned eight Academy Award nominations, and the other as part of a post-credits cameo in the most commercially successful franchise in the history of cinema.
Even a few weeks ago, the notion of Harry Styles being cast as Thanos’ brother in the MCU would have sounded ludicrous, but Eternals has set the star up to have a significant presence in the cosmic side of the mythology moving forward. In an interview with Dazed Digital, he voiced his appreciation at being given the opportunity.
“I’m only in right at the very end. But who didn’t grow up wanting to be a superhero, you know? It was a great experience and I’m so grateful to have gotten to work with Chloé.”
Eternals director Chloé Zhao admitted that Styles as Eros was always part of her plan for the pair of stingers after the main story wrapped up, and it would have been even more of a shock had the surprise not been ruined almost as soon as the world premiere had ended.