Even before it premieres, a good portion of the talk about Marvel Studios’ “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” series has tied to the show’s visual effects – more specifically, that of the lead character.
Whereas Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk design is essentially a creature, the She-Hulk form of Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslaney) is much more human-like in terms of design – the main differences being skin color and physical size.
The result is the look, at times, being somewhat in the uncanny valley. Things aren’t helped by recently shared horror stories by visual effects artists working on Marvel productions which talk of indecisive execs, strained timetables, mistreated staff and overwhelming demands leading to high stress and rushed results.
Speaking at the show’s Television Critics Association’s press tour panel this week, director Kat Coiro responded to one of the backlashes that has also come up – some complaining that the character should’ve been ‘bulkier’ like in the comics:
“In terms of the CGI being critiqued, I think that has to do with our culture’s belief in its ownership of women’s bodies. I think a lot of the critique comes from feeling like they’re able to tear apart the CGI woman.
There’s a lot of talk about her body type, and we based it on Olympian athletes and not bodybuilders. But I think if we had gone the other way, we would be facing the same critique. I think it’s very hard to win when you make women’s bodies.”
The show’s head writer Jessica Gao, Coiro and Maslany also responded to the ongoing VFX controversy and say they stand in full solidarity with the effects artists:
Gao: “This is a massive undertaking to have a show where the main character is CG. It’s terrible that a lot of artists feel rushed and feel that the workload is too massive. I think everybody on this panel stands in solidarity with all workers.”
Corio: “We stand in solidarity with what they say the truth is. We work with them, but we’re not behind the scenes on these long nights and days. If they’re feeling pressure, we stand with them, and we listen to them.”
Maslany: “I feel incredibly deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work. Obviously, much quicker than probably should be given to them in terms of like churning these things out. We have to like be super conscious of the work conditions which aren’t always optimal.”
The nine-episode series co-stars Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky and Benedict Wong as Wong, along with Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass and Renee Elise Goldsberry.
“Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” will debut on the Disney+ streaming service on Thursday, August 18th.
Source: THR
