Kumail Nanjiani on Reactions to His Marvel Body Transformation (Exclusive)

'The internet thought it happened overnight.'

Kumail Nanjiani is opening up about the best reactions to his body transformation.

ET's Ash Crossan caught up with Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, and the pair got real about the reactions to Nanjiani's newly chiseled physique, which he worked to achieve for his upcoming role in Marvel's Eternals.

"The internet thought it happened overnight," Nanjiani, 41, said. "The people that I know, I have been talking about it, it's been obsessively for a year."

"That is true, and the way you look almost makes up for how much you talk about it," Gordon quipped in response.

Though Nanjiani said he's trying to talk about his new bod "less now," he also noted that he "got obsessed with it 'cause it just takes so much work."

"It's been a great thing for you," Gordon, 40, praised. "He's much warmer. I think he's more like a heat factory in a way that you weren't before. It's kind of amazing."

While there was no shortage of social media praise for Nanjiani, one celeb comment stood out among the rest.

"I like that The Rock said something about it," Nanjiani said, referencing Dwayne Johnson. "That was so cool. He called me brother and said, 'I know how hard it is'... That one felt great."

"It could be the girl that I went to middle school with and haven't talked to since middle school or the guy I hooked up with in college, both [of whom] reached out to me," Gordon joked.

"I would say those meant very little to me compared to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson," Nanjiani quipped back. "I don't really care about the guy you hooked up with college."

"What about my aunt? Was that a big one?" Gordon asked.

"Better than the guy you hooked up with in college," Nanjiani volleyed back.

As for the strangest aspect of the whole thing, Gordon recalled, "Someone gave your father socks with your body on them."

"That was weird," Nanjiani agreed.

After teaming up for The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail from 2014 to 2016 and working together on 2017's The Big Sick, the married duo is once again combining their efforts for Apple TV+'s Little America, some episodes of which they wrote and produced.

The anthology series follows stories of immigrants' lives in the United States. Immediately after they were pitched the project, Nanjiani said that they thought it was "an amazing idea."

"It's so lovely to hear an idea and be like, 'Why doesn't this exist already?'" Gordon said. "Obviously this should happen, and it's wonderful when you're asked to be involved and it already feels like something that should exist."

As for if they'll continue to work together, both Gordon and Nanjiani seemed eager to do so.

"It's been good, the stuff that we do together," Nanjiani said. "We have had a good track record so far... We are very proud."

"We are going to keep it up, do our best," Gordon agreed.

Little America is now streaming on Apple TV+.

RELATED CONTENT:

 

Latest News