She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Director Finally Addresses She-Hulk's Divisive Appearance
The first trailer for "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" received a bit of a divisive response following its mid-May release. Lots of MCU fans reacted negatively, with most pointing to the green CGI for main character Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), as being particularly problematic. The Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series follows Jennifer, a woman in her 30s balancing her job as an attorney with both her new powers and a surge of public interest when she transforms into She-Hulk. Fans mocked the CGI rendering of She-Hulk in the trailer, which differentiated itself from Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in a few ways, mainly by going brighter and keeping Walters more human-looking in her Hulk form.
"I pray it's better than what I saw," Reddit user u/Otherwise-Table1935 wrote in a thread addressing the potential issue. "She-Hulk's CGI looks like Fiona's from 'Shrek,'" u/orangexteal added. "This is exactly what I felt. It's unfortunate that the shape of Tatianna's face when digitized really resembles Fiona from "Shrek." I expect this to be a super popular meme when the show comes out," u/Gergdawg19 wrote, echoing the "Shrek" reference. To be fair, the trailer was only a first look and may have presented then-unfinished CGI effects, but that hasn't kept fans from discussing (and worrying) about the next Disney+ show.
This week, director Kat Coiro has now addressed the mini-controversy and cleared up any confusion about the look of She-Hulk ahead of the show's debut on Disney's streaming platform on August 17. Coiro directed six of the nine episodes of the first season (via IMDb), so it's fair to say she's an authority when it comes to behind-the-scenes knowledge of the creation of She-Hulk's appearance.
Coiro says She-Hulk's look is unlike anything in the MCU
Speaking to SFX magazine (via GamesRadar), Kat Coiro explained that She-Hulk's look was thought out months before production, and she believes the response can be chalked up to the fact that the character looks so different from what has come before in the MCU. "I think a lot of the reactions have to do with the fact that she is so different than anything we've seen. When you think of Thanos or Hulk, they have a grisliness and a harshness and a bulkiness to them that is just so different. And when you just see a little pop of her, it's almost shocking because we haven't seen it before," she explained. The director added that they were looking to bring more nuance to She-Hulk's look to better capture of Tatiana Maslany, and they have continued improving the CGI in post-production.
The fact of the matter is the decision to go all-CGI with Hulk divided folks too, with "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno even voicing frustrations with the move from a make-up toting actor to modern CGI-modifications, claiming it took away from the performance of the character (via The Washington Times). The look of any Hulk will always be a debate when even the original star has his own opinion on the direction, but Mark Ruffalo's Hulk has become a primary figure in the MCU, so it's likely She-Hulk will find her own place in the universe and win fans over, too.