Tatiana Maslany, who playes the main character in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, tells how portraying a CGI character has aided her acting, despite the continuing mixed reception of the visual design. Jennifer Walters, an attorney who specializes in cases involving superhumans, will head the cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. Walters’ life is flipped upside down when she receives a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner and changes into a 6-foot-7 version of herself with superpowers; she must find a method to gain control of her talents and balance it with her daily existence.
Is CGI Enhancing Tatiana’s Performance?
In addition to Maslany, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law also features Jameela Jamil as the antagonist Titania, Ginger Gonzaga, Jon Bass, and Renée Elisabeth Goldsberry. Tim Roth reprises his role as Emil Blonsky, better known as the Abomination from The Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo reprises his role as Bruce Banner, and Benedict Wong reprises his role as Wong. Jessica Gao, formerly of Rick and Morty, created She-Hulk: Attorney at Law for Disney+, with Kat Coiro, formerly of Marry Me, directing.
Before the show’s release on Disney+, Tatiana Maslany spoke with Empire about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The actress said that portraying a CGI persona enhanced her performance by allowing her to get into the sense of being an “outsider.”
The Hulk characters, however, are the ones in which visual effects are almost entirely employed to bring the statuesque monsters to life. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law appears to be a rare instance of few CGI characters surrounding the titular hero, save for Banner’s “Smart Hulk” variant, Roth’s Abomination, and Jameela Jamil’s Titania, though recent images suggest that the latter was largely brought to life practically.
This contrasts with previous MCU titles that featured Ruffalo’s Hulk. Given that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s narrative likewise seeks to examine Jennifer’s hardships as her life as an attorney is upended by her newly discovered abilities, it makes it likely that Maslany would be able to better convey her character’s sense of loneliness by donning a CGI mo-cap costume.
Visual Effects… Visual Effects Everywhere!
The CGI for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has many viewers feeling uneasy about the MCU show’s visual effects, even though it may be helping the storyline. Since then, the visual effects team and director Kat Coiro have responded to criticism of the VFX, defending the character’s appearance as being different from what viewers expect in comparison to Thanos and Ruffalo’s grislier Hulk designs. Additionally, since the trailer was released about four months before the show’s debut, some have defended the CGI by claiming that it’s probably not yet complete. When She-Hulk: Attorney at Law debuts on Disney+ on August 17, it will be impossible to predict how viewers will react to the show’s CGI characters.