The cast and creatives of “She-Hulk” Tatiana Maslany (Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk), Ginger Gonzaga (Nikki), Kat Coiro (Director), and Jessica Gao (Head Writer) spoke to CinemaBlend's Law Sharma about their upcoming Disney+ series. They discuss the MCU casting process, working with motion capture, how other established characters like Daredevil fit into the show, and much more!
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00:00 (air horn blaring)
00:02 - Wow, geez, what the hell, man?
00:05 - Still in control, no overwhelming feelings of rage.
00:07 - No, a normal amount of rage.
00:09 (upbeat music)
00:12 - You're the first person to really break the fourth wall
00:22 in the MCU, even before Deadpool.
00:25 How does it feel having that distinction under your belt?
00:27 - Yeah, it's cool.
00:28 I mean, it's such a fun thing to get to do.
00:31 You know, there's so many shows that do it,
00:33 but like this one feels earned because we've,
00:38 you know, she's been doing it since the '80s,
00:39 so there's this legacy of her
00:42 always being aware of the audience.
00:44 And that awareness feels integral to her
00:47 in the sense of like,
00:48 she's also super aware when she becomes She-Hulk.
00:51 You know, so it's sort of like this weird idea
00:54 of like, that's her superpower, actually.
00:56 - I'm wondering how much of that funny
00:58 and the comedy was on the page
01:00 and how much did you actually bring on set?
01:02 Because breaking the fourth wall
01:03 seems like there's a lot of room to play, maybe.
01:06 - Yeah, for sure.
01:07 There was a lot of playroom, but truly it was the script.
01:09 And that was why when I read it,
01:11 I was like laughing on every page when I read,
01:13 you know, for the audition,
01:14 I was so excited to get to read the pilot
01:17 because it just, it was so weird
01:19 and it was so straight out of Jessica Gao's brain,
01:22 but it had such a strong voice to it.
01:24 And it really truly is the script that's that funny.
01:27 And then we just, you know, try to say it truthfully
01:30 and, you know, play with each other.
01:32 - There was a lot of stuff left on the cutting room floor.
01:34 Like, mostly jokes, you know,
01:38 because there really does have to be a balance
01:40 of too many jokes with, you know, like the Marvel vibe.
01:43 I will say, if I had to estimate,
01:46 I would say probably in each episode,
01:48 we've probably lost like 25% of like jokes and dialogue.
01:53 So just think about that.
01:55 That is a long list and that's every episode.
01:57 - I want to talk about Nikki
01:58 because she's an original character for the show.
02:01 How much did that free you up to put your own stamp on her?
02:03 - Oh my God, too much.
02:05 I think, actually there can never be too much.
02:07 Please let me be free on all sides.
02:09 No, it was great.
02:10 I got so lucky, you know, Jessica wrote this really fun role
02:13 and I improvised a lot in my audition.
02:15 So they started tweaking it, you know,
02:16 more to what I was doing.
02:18 And Jessica, like, she just gets me so well, you know,
02:21 but it gave me so much freedom, you know,
02:24 because she's not in the comic books,
02:26 we could really establish her, you know?
02:27 So I got really involved in the styling and the hair
02:29 and makeup and all the things for her
02:31 and how we wanted her to be
02:34 and kind of be funny in this world.
02:36 - Interestingly, the action sequences are simpler
02:38 because that's what mocap is used to doing.
02:41 And, you know, there's a whole language developed
02:43 around mocap in "Stunt World,"
02:46 but it was actually the more intimate dialogue-driven scenes
02:50 that don't usually entail mocap that were more challenging.
02:53 For example, when the two hulks are talking
02:57 and they have four pages of dialogue
03:00 and you want these incredible actors,
03:02 Mark Ruffalo and Tatiana Maslany,
03:03 to feel free and explore their space,
03:06 but you're bound by the rules of mocap.
03:08 And so we did a lot of rehearsals beforehand
03:10 to see what they as actors would do
03:12 so we could take care of all the technical aspects
03:14 and then let them do their thing
03:16 without too much interruption.
03:17 - Probably take a lot of foresight on your part
03:19 just to understand that.
03:20 - So much preparation.
03:22 You know, in one way,
03:22 we're doing a light little half-hour comedy,
03:25 and in another way,
03:26 we're doing this huge technical extravaganza.
03:28 And so, yeah, it was months of preparation.
03:30 - I wonder if you have any keys
03:33 to making your transformation process work.
03:35 Like, is there anything special to it when you transform?
03:38 - I mean, the transformation itself always felt like...
03:41 Jen kind of exists in her head.
03:45 She's sort of always analyzing everything
03:49 and always sort of like 10 steps behind herself,
03:51 but at the same time, 10 steps ahead.
03:53 So she's kind of like,
03:54 there's a lot of chaos in her head.
03:56 But She-Hulk feels like she kind of lands in her body.
03:59 So there was something about like breathing into my body
04:03 that actually felt like,
04:04 and having a relaxed body
04:07 that felt more She-Hulk than Jen.
04:09 - Did you get any mocap advice
04:11 from like Tim Roth or Ruffalo?
04:12 - Mark and I talked about it a lot.
04:14 I also got to speak to Andy Serkis about it briefly,
04:17 which was like a dream.
04:19 You know, he's just like the master of it, you know?
04:22 And to hear the way that he works on character
04:25 and to sort of like take on some of that,
04:28 but also know that my character was like
04:30 kind of the same person as when she is, you know,
04:32 small at five foot four or whatever.
04:34 But it was great to talk to him, yeah.
04:37 - How we approached everything from a writing standpoint
04:39 was always like,
04:40 let's just do it until someone tells us we can't, you know?
04:42 And they will let you know if something is a hard no,
04:45 you know?
04:46 It doesn't happen that frequently, but it does happen.
04:48 And so, you know, we really just wrote like Bruce
04:52 the way that we felt was like right for the show
04:55 and kind of still stay true to his character.
04:57 And also Mark had a lot of input, you know?
04:59 Mark has played this character for so long.
05:00 Like he is Bruce, he is Hulk.
05:02 So anything that like didn't really feel right
05:06 or true to the character, like Mark would bring up.
05:09 - Now the internet blew up
05:10 when we saw Daredevil come back onto the screen.
05:12 And I'm wondering, how did you navigate
05:15 introducing him with a preexisting kind of lore
05:18 that's around him because Netflix.
05:20 - What's nice about our show is that
05:22 any character that we bring into our show,
05:24 any well-known character,
05:25 they are kind of getting to play in the tone of our show.
05:28 You know, they get to kind of take a break from
05:31 usually a very dramatic kind of serious, very intense,
05:35 you know, sometimes dark properties.
05:38 But on our show, it's, you know, the stakes are different.
05:40 You know, the universe isn't about to end.
05:41 So like, it's just normal slice of life stuff, you know?
05:45 It's everyday stuff.
05:46 So the characters themselves just naturally
05:49 get to be a little bit more chill than, you know,
05:51 the heightened, we got to save humanity, you know?
05:54 And also like, because they get to kind of
05:56 take a comedy vacation in our show
05:58 and really like just play in our tone,
06:01 we get to see kind of the lighter side of their character
06:03 when they're not in these heightened situations,
06:05 when they're all just, you know,
06:06 when it's just a regular weekday.
06:07 - I'm wondering if like the secrecy,
06:09 but when you're starting this project
06:10 is as bad as everyone talks about.
06:12 - It is, it's insane.
06:14 It's even when you're auditioning,
06:15 you don't know who you're auditioning for, you know?
06:17 It has a fake name and you start becoming
06:18 like this weird detective and you drive yourself crazy.
06:21 And then all the scripts are secretive.
06:22 It's wild.
06:24 - What was like the audition process?
06:26 Was it like a bunch of different callbacks?
06:29 - I went the old fashioned way
06:31 and I slept with Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel.
06:33 Congratulations, you get the headline.
06:35 - There's my scoop.
06:36 No, I think I sent in an audition tape
06:39 and then I did a chemistry session with Tatiana on Zoom,
06:42 which is always difficult.
06:43 But on the Zoom, we kept like,
06:46 we would do one scene and then we'd be like,
06:48 I like this, oh my God, how about this?
06:49 You know this person, I know that person.
06:50 And Kat, the director would have to tell us like,
06:52 "Oh, don't forget this is an audition."
06:53 They would have to shut us up.
06:54 So I think it was a good sign that we would be fast friends
06:57 and have a good chemistry.
06:59 - Jen, do your thing.
07:00 - God, I really like this outfit.
07:02 - I mean, I love the fact that she is totally untrained
07:05 and she's a reluctant superhero.
07:07 So she has all these great strengths,
07:09 but she kind of wants nothing to do with them.
07:11 And you know, one of my favorite scenes is in "Four"
07:14 where she fights the demons.
07:16 And you kind of see that she's not very good at this.
07:18 She can, you know, jump really high
07:20 and she can smash really hard,
07:22 but she's not a trained fighter.
07:24 And I love Wong getting frustrated with her.
07:26 Like, come on, be a superhero.
07:28 - I feel like she's incredibly relatable.
07:30 You know, she sort of doesn't,
07:33 she doesn't acknowledge or assume the role of a superhuman.
07:37 You know, she kind of denies that that's a part of her
07:40 and is really just more fixated
07:42 on like the minutiae of her life
07:44 and trying to figure that out.
07:46 So that kind of conflict to me feels very relatable.
07:51 Also just like being a woman who is suddenly thrust
07:55 into like a very public sphere
07:57 and suddenly has, everybody has opinions about her body
08:00 and about her existence.
08:03 It feels, you know, like people will relate to that
08:06 even in their own lives.
08:07 - You know, the character is a role model, right?
08:09 She's rad and we get to see her come into her own power.
08:12 But Tatiana is who I think should have this platform
08:15 because she's always on the right side of history.
08:17 She cares, she supports people.
08:19 She knows the severity of so many different situations
08:21 and she'll go out of her way to signal to the world
08:25 what's important to her and to defend.
08:27 You know, she wore a Trevor Project shirt,
08:28 you know, at the "Doctor Strange" premiere.
08:30 And it's so powerful.
08:31 And an actor doesn't have to do that.
08:33 So I love that it's there.
08:35 You could be an Avenger.
08:36 - Oh, I'm not a superhero.
08:38 That is for billionaires and narcissists.
08:41 And adult orphans for some reason.
08:43 (dramatic music)
08:46 (dramatic music)
08:49 (dramatic music)