Did The Eternals Star Kumail Nanjiani Reject Audition for Deadpool for Not Playing up His Accent?
Kumail is a Pakistani American. He recalled how he has been asked to make his accent funnier in many auditions.
Kumail Nanjiani will make his grand MCU debut with the upcoming superhero film, The Eternals. He stars alongside Angelina Jolie in the film, playing the role of a pre-historic immortal superhero whose modern-day alter-ego includes being a Bollywood superstar. But if a certain auction had gone well, Kumail would have starred in a Marvel movie (by Fox) sooner. The actor in a roundtable about representation hosted by Variety made a revelation about a certain audition where he was asked to play up his accent.
Kumail is a Pakistani American. He recalled how he has been asked to make his accent funnier in many auditions. "I have a Pakistani accent, but they would be like, ‘Could you make it funnier? Lean in a little bit.’ And at some point, I decided I just wasn’t going to do that,” he told Variety. The Eternals: Marvel to Get Its First Ever Bollywood Style Dance Number Featuring Kumail Nanjiani as a Movie Star.
"There are certain parts that require a thicker Pakistani or Indian accent, and that’s totally fine, but I just didn’t want the comedy to just be coming from someone exaggerating their accent," he added, before dropping the bomb.
“So there was a really, really big movie, actually, that I auditioned for, and I was a taxi driver, and the director was like, ‘Hey, could you play up the accent a little bit?’ And I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t.’ And then the guy felt really bad,” Kumail said.
“And I was like, ‘No, it’s fine. I’m just not going to do it. If that’s what you want, I’m not your guy.’ And then that movie was hugely successful.”
“Still, I don’t regret it," he concluded.
While Kumail did not name drop the big film, it is not tough to figure out which movie he's talking about. Kumail has talked about auditioning for Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool in 2014 on his podcast. The superhero movie featured an Indian taxi driver as a prominent character. The role is played by Karan Soni in the film and its sequel. The guest on the podcast Thomas Middleditch also hinted that Kumail turned a role in a "superhero movie we’ve all been dreaming of" because he refused to exaggerate his accent.
Well, if you put two and two together Kumail seems to have turned down the Deadpool audition because of the request. But he will now play the role of a Bollywood star and even dance on a Bollywood song, for The Eternals. Let us hope this one's also not playing by the stereotypes.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 27, 2020 05:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).