Kumail Nanjiani transformed his physique in 14-months, after Chloé Zhao cast him as the 7,000-year-old Earth defender named Kingo in Marvel‘s highly-anticipated Eternals, which premiered last October 2021. Now, a year later, Kumail is reflecting on his metamorphosis in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife, revealing how his mindset around health and working out has adapted. “I really got a lot out of it, so I do it. I’m not as rigid as I was, but I just saw a lot of benefits for myself in it,” he explained. “It’s sort of become part of my routine. Now, I feel antsy if I’m not going to the gym, it just really sort of grounds me and it’s great for stress relief.”
Kumail’s wife and business partner Emily V. Gordon added how the couple both found that “working out is really great for anxiety,” especially during the pandemic. “What I started doing in the pandemic that I’d never done before is lifting weights,” she admitted to HL. “In some ways, I had been a little scared of pushing my body to any kind of physical limits because I’d been afraid of of getting sick. I’ve been afraid of kind of what that could do, but what I learned was that I’ve been kind of babying my body a little bit, when I can actually push it more than I thought I could.”
Both Emily and Kumail spoke to HollywoodLife in an exclusive interview about their new campaign with AstraZeneca called Up The Antibodies, which speaks to the millions of immunocompromised Americans who have endured the COVID-19 pandemic. “I haven’t seen anybody really address what immunocompromised people are supposed to be doing to stay safe during the pandemic. The only routine advice I’ve gotten online is to stay inside,” said Emily, whose battle with Still’s disease is documented in the couple’s critically-acclaimed film The Big Sick. “I think after all this time, both of us are interested in figuring out how we can live a safe and healthy life, but a life outside of our homes. So, I was really excited to do any level of advocating for people who are immunocompromised because we haven’t been spoken directly to.”
Kumail added, “Obviously, there’s a way you can stay completely safe, and that’s not leaving the house, but that’s not a life. So, we want educate ourselves and other immunocompromised people and their loved ones that there are ways that you can live a normal life while still doing everything you can protect yourself.”
For more information about Up The Antibodies visit UpTheAntibodies.com and check out Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon and Jeff Bridges discuss the campaign in the video above.