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 the 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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00:00Wow! Geez, what the hell, man?
00:05Still in control, no overwhelming feelings of rage.
00:07No! A normal amount of rage!
00:20You're the first person to really break the fourth wall in the MCU, even before Deadpool.
00:25How does it feel having that distinction under your belt?
00:27Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's such a fun thing to get to do.
00:31There's so many shows that do it, but this one feels earned because she's been doing it since the 80s,
00:40so there's this legacy of her always being aware of the audience.
00:44And that awareness feels integral to her in the sense of she's also super aware when she becomes She-Hulk.
00:51So it's sort of like this weird idea of that's her superpower, actually.
00:56I'm wondering how much of that funny and the comedy was on the page, and how much did you actually bring on set?
01:02Because breaking the fourth wall seems like there's a lot of room to play, maybe.
01:06Yeah, for sure. There was a lot of playroom, but truly it was the script.
01:09And that was why when I read it, I was laughing on every page.
01:13For the audition, I was so excited to get to read the pilot because it was so weird,
01:19and it was so straight out of Jessica Gao's brain, but it had such a strong voice to it.
01:24And it really, truly is the script that's that funny.
01:27And then we just try to say it truthfully and play with each other.
01:32There was a lot of stuff left on the cutting room floor, mostly jokes,
01:38because there really does have to be a balance of too many jokes with the Marvel vibe.
01:44I will say, if I had to estimate, I would say probably in each episode,
01:49we've probably lost like 25% of jokes and dialogue.
01:54So just think about that. That is a long list, and that's every episode.
01:58I want to talk about Nikki because she's an original character for the show.
02:01How much did that free you up to put your own stamp on her?
02:04Oh my God, too much, I think. Actually, there can never be too much. Please let me be free on all sets.
02:09No, it was great. I got so lucky.
02:12Jessica wrote this really fun role, and I improvised a lot in my audition,
02:16so they started tweaking it more to what I was doing.
02:19And Jessica, she just gets me so well.
02:22But it gave me so much freedom.
02:25Because she's not in the comic books, we could really establish her.
02:28So I got really involved in the styling and the hair and makeup and all the things for her,
02:32and how we wanted her to be and kind of be funny in this world.
02:37Interestingly, the action sequences are simpler because that's what mocap is used to doing.
02:41And, you know, there's a whole language developed around mocap in Stunt World.
02:46But it was actually the more intimate dialogue-driven scenes that don't usually entail mocap that were more challenging.
02:54For example, when the two hulks are talking and they have four pages of dialogue,
03:00and you want these incredible actors, Mark Ruffalo and Tatiana Maslany, to feel free and explore their space,
03:06but you're bound by the rules of mocap.
03:08And so we did a lot of rehearsals beforehand to see what they as actors would do,
03:12so we could take care of all the technical aspects and then let them do their thing without too much interruption.
03:17Probably takes a lot of foresight on your part just to, like, understand that.
03:21So much preparation.
03:22You know, in one way we're doing, like, a light little half-hour comedy,
03:25and in another way we're doing this huge technical extravaganza.
03:28And so, yeah, it was months of preparation.
03:31I wonder if you have any keys to making your transformation process work.
03:36Like, is there anything special to it when you transform?
03:38I mean, the transformation itself always felt like...
03:42Jen kind of exists in her head.
03:46She's sort of always analyzing everything and always sort of, like, ten steps behind herself,
03:51but at the same time ten steps ahead.
03:53So she's kind of like, there's a lot of chaos in her head.
03:56But She-Hulk feels like she kind of lands in her body.
03:59So there was something about, like, breathing into my body that actually felt like...
04:04and having a relaxed body that felt more She-Hulk than Jen.
04:09Did you get any mo-cap advice from, like, Tim Roth or Ruffalo?
04:13Mark and I talked about it a lot.
04:14I also got to speak to Andy Serkis about it briefly, which was, like, a dream.
04:19You know, he's just, like, the master of it, you know?
04:22And to hear the way that he works on character and to sort of, like, take on some of that,
04:28but also know that my character was, like, kind of the same person as when she is, you know,
04:33small at five foot four or whatever.
04:35But it was great to talk to him, yeah.
04:37How we approached everything from a writing standpoint was always, like,
04:40let's just do it until someone tells us we can't, you know?
04:42And they will let you know if something is a hard no, you know?
04:46It doesn't happen that frequently, but it does happen.
04:48And so, you know, we really just wrote, like, Bruce the way that we felt was, like,
04:54right for the show and kind of still stayed true to his character.
04:57And also, Mark had a lot of input, you know?
04:59Mark has played this character for so long.
05:01Like, he is Bruce.
05:02He is Hulk.
05:03So anything that, like, didn't really feel right or true to the character, like, Mark would bring up.
05:09Now, the internet blew up when we saw Daredevil come back onto the screen.
05:13And I'm wondering, how did you navigate introducing him with the preexisting kind of lore that's around him because of Netflix?
05:20What's nice about our show is that any character that we bring into our show, any well-known character,
05:25they are kind of getting to play in the tone of our show, you know?
05:28They get to kind of take a break from usually a very dramatic, kind of serious, very intense, you know,
05:36sometimes dark properties.
05:38But on our show, it's, you know, the stakes are different.
05:40You know, the universe isn't about to end.
05:42So, like, it's just normal slice-of-life stuff, you know?
05:45It's everyday stuff.
05:46So the characters themselves just naturally get to be a little bit more chill than, you know, the heightened we-gotta-save-humanity, you know?
05:54And also, like, because they get to kind of take a comedy vacation in our show and really, like, just play in our tone,
06:01we get to see kind of the lighter side of their character when they're not in these heightened situations,
06:05when they're all just, you know, when it's just a regular weekday.
06:08I'm wondering if, like, the secrecy when you're starting this project is as bad as everyone talks about.
06:13It is. It's insane.
06:14Even when you're auditioning, you don't know who you're auditioning for, you know?
06:17It has a fake name, and you start becoming, like, this weird detective, and you drive yourself crazy.
06:21And then all the scripts are secretive.
06:23It's wild.
06:25What was, like, the audition process?
06:26Was it, like, a bunch of different callbacks?
06:30I went the old-fashioned way, and I slept with Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel.
06:34Congratulations, you get the headline.
06:36There's my scoop.
06:37No, I think I sent in an audition tape, and then I did a chemistry session with Tatiana on Zoom, which is always difficult.
06:44But on the Zoom, we kept, like, we would do one scene, and then we'd be like,
06:48I like this. Oh, my God. How about this? You know this person. I know that person.
06:51And Kat, the director, would have to tell us, like,
06:53don't forget this is an audition. They would have to shut us up.
06:55So I think it was a good sign that we would be fast friends and have good chemistry.
06:59Jen, do your thing.
07:01God, I really like this outfit.
07:03I love the fact that she is totally untrained, and she's a reluctant superhero.
07:07So she has all these great strengths, but she kind of wants nothing to do with them.
07:11And, you know, one of my favorite scenes is in Four where she fights the demons.
07:16And you kind of see that she's not very good at this.
07:19She can, you know, jump really high, and she can smash really hard, but she's not a trained fighter.
07:24And I love Wong getting frustrated with her, like, come on, be a superhero.
07:28I feel like she's incredibly relatable.
07:31You know, she sort of doesn't acknowledge or assume the role of a superhuman.
07:38You know, she kind of denies that that's a part of her
07:41and is really just more fixated on, like, the minutia of her life and trying to figure that out.
07:47So that kind of conflict, to me, feels very relatable.
07:51Also, just, like, being a woman who is suddenly thrust into, like, a very public sphere
07:57and suddenly has—everybody has opinions about her body and about her existence
08:03feels, you know, like people will relate to that even in their own lives.
08:08You know, the character is a role model, right?
08:10She's rad, and we get to see her come into her own power.
08:12But Tatiana is who I think should have this platform
08:16because she's always on the right side of history.
08:18She cares. She supports people.
08:20She knows the severity of so many different situations,
08:22so she'll go out of her way to signal to the world what's important to her and to defend.
08:27You know, she wore a Trevor Project shirt, you know, at the Doctor Strange premiere.
08:30And it's so powerful, and an actor doesn't have to do that.
08:34So I love that it's her.
08:35You could be an Avenger.
08:36Oh, I'm not a superhero.
08:39That is for billionaires and narcissists.
08:41And adult orphans, for some reason.
08:52You