During a recent interview, several members of the Eternals cast shared vague details on an alternate post-credits scene featuring the immortal superheroes communicating with Arishem. It's hard to say what that originally meant for the movie, especially as Marvel Studios often fundamentally changes its blockbusters through additional photography.
When we caught up with Arishem actor David Kaye last week, we wondered whether he recalled recording any dialogue that didn't make it into the final cut of Eternals. However, by the time he boarded the project, it sounds like Marvel Studios had already decided on the Celestial's role.
"It was specific. We worked on it a few times to find the voice but by that time, it had been sussed out," the actor confirms in the video below. "And still, they can change things up until the last minute with the dialogue because the film was mostly in the can by that point I was brought in. It was daunting, to tell you the truth. You’re working with that calibre of people and you want to make sure you come in and you’re at that high level...Chloé makes it so easy and it just felt comfortable."
Kaye chose his words carefully, but that's no great surprise given the sheer amount of secrecy surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, we didn't even know Arishem would have a voice until a week or so ago when Eternals arrived in theaters, and respecting Marvel Studios' approach to keeping these secrets under wraps wasn't lost on the prolific voice actor.
"It wasn’t difficult at all because until they tell you officially you’re in the film…I’m David Kaye, there are a lot of stars and celebrities they could easily decide to bring in," Kaye explained. "I’ve learned to keep my excitement tempered until there’s proof I’ve made it and I’m in there. You can easily be replaced, so I’m grateful they kept me around. There are really no guarantees."
"I think it’s very cool what they did and I understand why we couldn’t say anything," he concluded. "It’s pretty neat and actually kind of fun to keep it secret."
We can only imagine how that felt. David talks more about his Eternals experience, getting in trouble for spilling the beans on other projects he's part of (specifically Ratchet & Clank and Batman: Arkham City), and a whole lot more in our video interview below.
You can visit David's website here. He's also on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Cameo.