The cast of 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' on whether or not it's Marvels 'Ally McBeal'
The cast of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law talk to Yahoo Entertainment about whether or not it's Marvels Ally McBeal.
Video Transcript
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- People only care because I'm representing Emil Blonsky. I think they care because they're like, hey, that girl's green.
I'm not proud of this.
KEVIN POLOWY: I've heard it's being called Marvel's first true half hour comedy. Is this Marvel's Ally McBeal? Is that-- is that apt?
KAT COIRO: Ally McBeal was absolutely a reference for this show. And so, it was always about finding that balance between making a half hour comedy, which is a new genre for the MCU, and still feeling like we fit into the universe that has been created. So it was always, you know, going back and forth between that. And there's a lot of drama and there's action.
JESSICA CAO: What's funny is, in the writers' room the entire time we wrote on the-- we wrote the show, we never once referenced Ally McBeal. [LAUGHS] But what we did reference was a lot of Fleabag, we referenced "Better Call Saul." And also, we referenced a lot of Ryan Murphy's "American Crime Story," OJ.
ANU VALIA: I took from all sort of different places. But like, I really-- like the tone of this is-- it is a half hour comedy. And I hope people find, like, there's so much comedy to be mined from like what does a 30-something year old single lady who's like trying to balance her work and her life, and then also being a Hulk, and the cousin of Bruce Banner.
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.
ANU VALIA: Like what does that life look like? And I think we had a lot of fun with that. And there's a lot of deep emotional truths too with like what she's experiencing. So I just hope people like fall in love with Jen. Because she's funny and she's a weirdo.
TATIANA MASLANY: If I had seen Ally McBeal, I could tell you, I have watched "Legally Blonde."
KEVIN POLOWY: They did not reference it.
TATIANA MASLANY: And for me, that's a reference.
KEVIN POLOWY: It's Marvel's "Legally Blonde."
TATIANA MASLANY: It's Marvel's "Legally Blonde." I'm Marvel's Elle Woods.
JAMEELA JAMIL: There is law and there is humor. So I can see that. But I think there's also a touch of Fleabag in there, which everyone who just kind of saw the trailer got a kind of mini glimpse into. The fact that She-Hulk breaks the fourth wall and communicates directly with the audience. I think that's really cool. It's just unlike anything in the MCU. So I wonder how people are going to take it.
GINGER GONZAGA: I never saw Ally McBeal. So I can't answer that correctly. But I don't know if Ally McBeal had any monsters in it. [LAUGHS] But yeah.
KEVIN POLOWY: Not as much green.
GINGER GONZAGA: Yeah, not so-- not so much green. Nobody flew, that's for sure. But it does have-- I think that show had a lot of wit. And so, our show has a ton of satire, a ton of wit, a ton of really cool commentary. And it's in this really magical world.
KEVIN POLOWY: A hugely anticipated turn for Tatiana. It's a-- you could say the term is Herculean, but in this case, it's a Hulkian role for her.
KAT COIRO: Yes.
KEVIN POLOWY: What was it like from your vantage point to watch her go green?
KAT COIRO: You know, we needed an actress who could embody all the power of She-Hulk and all the everywomanness of Jennifer Walters. And she has such incredible range.
And it also required an actress who was able to juggle all of this technical aspects of playing that role. And it's not easy, wearing the mocap, and the camera in your face, and we have to build platforms for her to walk on. And she just did it-- made it look effortless.
KEVIN POLOWY: I don't know if we've seen Tatiana do a role-- like flex her comedic chops in a project like this. Tell us about your vantage point on set. You know, is she hilarious?
ANU VALIA: Tatiana is one of the best actresses of our generation.
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.
ANU VALIA: She is so good. I could talk about her for so long. She's just a comedic genius. I mean, she is. She's so funny. She's always been a really deft comedic actor. Like she's-- her comedic timing is impeccable. And she's just so-- she infuses so much of herself into this character. She's just a dream. And I hope people fall in love with her as Jen. Because I did.
JESSICA CAO: You know, I was very like hell bent on, oh, we have to get a comedy person. Because this is a half hour comedy. And then, and never in a million years would I have thought to go drama. Because you just, you don't know. You know?
And but then she came in. And really the thing that she did first and foremost, that really made me change the way I looked at the character and the way I thought about the entire show, was that she made this character a person, a human being, first and foremost.
When you-- when she kind of inhabited the character, you're like, oh, this is a real person that I'm looking at. This isn't just somebody who's saying one-liners and getting the laugh. This is like a real person underneath there with layers and multitudes. And then she was so funny on top of that that it was just icing.
JAMEELA JAMIL: In her last show, she played about 842 characters at once. So I really think Tatiana can do anything.
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah. Yeah.
JAMEELA JAMIL: I really think there's nothing that she couldn't--
KEVIN POLOWY: That's range.
JAMEELA JAMIL: --conquer. She has-- she has all of the range. And she's left none of it for the rest of us. And so, she's a pro. And she takes to everything. And I think the-- I think that working with Mark Ruffalo is probably the most magical side of Tatiana that I got to see. Like she just-- the chemistry that the two of them have is going to blow everyone's balls off. [LAUGHS]
TATIANA MASLANY: I've always loved comedy. And I've always been drawn to it. I've just never gotten to do it really.
But what's so cool about this script is that it is very funny, but it's very much about the characters. You know, the characters and the sort of situations that they fall into in terms of like Jen in the courtroom defending this kind of person against this person, the superhumans in the courtroom, all of that stuff creates a real like spinning the legal procedural on its head.
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- You know that friend you had in high school, who was way cooler than you were? Attractive? Got all the attention from everyone?
- Hello.
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