Harry Styles' Quiet On-Set Kindness and the Heart Behind Eternals' Makkari

Spoiler warning: this article touches on Eternals details, including its mid-credits scene. 🚨

So, what does a tiny tap on the shoulder have to do with a cosmic Marvel movie? Quite a lot, actually. Lauren Ridloff, who played Makkari in Chloé Zhao's Eternals, once shared a behind-the-scenes story about Harry Styles that turns a quick cameo into a lesson in thoughtfulness. The film arrived in 2021 as the third cinematic installment of the MCU's Phase 4, following a group of immortal beings who reunite after Deviants threaten Earth. But the moment Ridloff remembered had nothing to do with powers or planets. It was about making a colleague feel included between takes.

Ridloff's casting was a major step for representation in the MCU. She was born deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate, and her role as Makkari gave audiences a deaf woman of color as a superhero. In Jack Kirby's original comics, Makkari is portrayed as a hearing, white man. Zhao's vision for the movie took a much more diverse approach to the source material, and Ridloff's performance reshaped the character. Makkari became a deaf hero whose speed and strength were never framed as less because of her deafness. Ridloff was so moved after seeing ASL in the film that she cried tears of joy, and she appreciated seeing sign language used as standard communication among the superheroes. Isn't that the kind of detail that makes a fictional world feel more real?

The on-set story about Styles is just as small and just as meaningful. In a scene that was later cut, the Eternals and Styles' character Eros sit on the starship Domo, communicating with their eyes closed as they try to contact Arishem. Between takes, Ridloff's interpreter would tap her shoulder to let her know the director had called cut. After this happened a couple of times, Styles asked Ridloff if he could simply tap her and cue her when shooting stopped. She happily accepted. In her words:

'Chloe would say, “Cut,” and every time she yelled, “Cut,” the interpreter would have to run around and tap me on the shoulder. So after a couple times, Harry was just like, “Is it okay if I just tap you and cue you when we stop shooting?” I was like, “Yeah, thank you!” That's just who Harry is: He just watches out, and he thinks: “What can I do?”'

That is not a grand gesture. It is not a speech or a publicity moment. It is a co-star noticing a small friction point and asking how to help. And in a big-budget production with trailers, costumes, effects, and tight schedules, that kind of awareness matters. 🎬

Styles' presence in Eternals was itself a surprise for many fans. Rumors of his MCU casting surfaced nearly a year before the film's release and were finally confirmed in October, thanks to a leak from Variety writer Matt Donnelly. That sent Marvel fans and Styles' own fanbase into a frenzy, with many wondering which hero or villain the singer would play. His appearance in the film is little more than a cameo, but the role still matters. He shows up in the mid-credits scene as Starfox, also known as Eros, the brother of Thanos. Eros is bound to have a significant role in the MCU and will more than likely appear in movies to come.

Styles seems to have built a friendly relationship with not just Ridloff but all of his Eternals co-stars. Salma Hayek described his first day on set by saying, 'He arrived, and he was just like part of us, immediately.' That easy warmth may explain why the shoulder-tap story still resonates. It is a reminder that inclusion is often built through practical, unglamorous choices. Who would have thought a cue between takes could say so much? 💫

As of 2026, Eternals is no longer the new kid on the MCU block, but this behind-the-scenes anecdote still lands because it is about access, awareness, and care. The film's post-credits scenes left the door open for more Eternals story, and fans have spent years wondering whether Styles will appear alongside the team again, or whether Eros might surface in another MCU project first. Either way, there are many exciting directions for the character to go in. The question is not whether the MCU can use Eros, but when and where it might. ⚡

And perhaps that is the real takeaway from Ridloff's story. A blockbuster can be huge, cosmic, and full of immortal heroes, but it is still made by people standing on a set, trying to communicate. Sometimes the most heroic thing someone can do is notice the person beside them and ask, 'What can I do?' 😊