The Eternals star promises to ‘humanise the hell’ out of queer families in Marvel’s upcoming epic
Haaz Sleiman attends the world premiere of National Geographic Channel’s ‘Killing Jesus’ on 23 March 2015 in New York City. (Paul Zimmerman/WireImage)
The Eternals star Haaz Sleiman has said that the upcoming film will “humanise” LGBT+ families and “show how beautiful they are”.
Sleiman will be married with a child to Phastos, the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In a recent interview with Out magazine, the actor opened up about his history-making MCU role and what it means to him to represent LGBT+ families on screen.
He said he feels “lucky” and “grateful” to be cast as the husband of Brian Tyree Henry’s character because he felt he could “humanise the hell out of it”.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I feel like Marvel, they were very smart to cast me in it because I got to humanise the hell out of it,” Sleiman said. “I got to humanise an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are.”
He added that he thought queer families are “way healthier than regular families” because “we stay together and there’s so much love”.
The Nurse Jackie star, who came out publicly in 2017, added that it was exciting to see LGBT+ stories being told in a meaningful way like in The Eternals. He told Out that media is “evolving” as more three-dimensional queer characters and multifaceted stories are being told on TV and film.
“The most exciting thing is the stories that are being told in television and film about LGBTQ people,” he said. “A lot of TV shows are being more thoughtful about portraying queer people in a more fuller way, not so one-dimensional or very stereotype[d].”
Sleiman added: “Things that have never happened before are starting to happen.”
Last year, Sleiman leaked some juicy details about his character on The Eternals in an interview with NewNowNext, including that the movie would include the MCU’s first on-screen same-sex kiss.
He said he filmed a “beautiful, very moving kiss” with Henry which brought everyone on set to tears. Sleiman added that his co-star was such a “tremendous actor” that he “saw a child in his eyes” at one point.
The Eternals is set to debut in theatres on 5 November.
