'She-Hulk' Producers Respond to CGI Criticisms, Defend Marvel's VFX Artists

The team behind She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is speaking out after receiving criticism for the way CGI was handled on the show.

At the series’ Television Critics Association press tour panel on Wednesday (August 3), director Kat Coiro responded to those who called out the show for not making Tatiana Maslany‘s hulk character bulkier.

Click inside to see the response…

“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,” she said. “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 team also addressed questions about how VFX artists have claimed that Marvel has overwhelmed their companies with demands, causing them to work more hours and leading to second-rate visual effects as well as mistreated staff.

“This is a massive undertaking to have a show where the main character is CG,” head writer Jessica Gao said. “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.”

“We stand in solidarity with what they say the truth is,” Kat added. “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.”

“I feel incredibly deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work,” Tatiana said. “Obviously, much [less time] than probably should be given to them in terms of like, churning these things out. We have to be super-conscious of the work conditions, which aren’t always optimal.”

The 36-year-old actress expressed her excitement about getting the chance to play the character, as “she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7 superpowered hulk.”

“Jen has had her life planned out for her and has worked really hard to get to where she is as a lawyer, and to have this thing happen to her that sort of derails everything,” she said. “It is a bit of an identity crisis. And what I find really compelling about the story is when she’s She-Hulk she’s treated very differently than when she’s Jen. There’s a lot of having to affirm her intelligence when she’s Jen and assert her role and trying to get respect, whereas when she’s She-Hulk there’s this inherent sort of awe inspired by her that’s at odds with how she wants to be perceived. … Her anger, her largeness, her taking up space in a room, is all fertile ground for us to play with, flip the standard on its head so you can laugh at it. … We’re so fixated on women’s bodies, whether it’s aesthetically or politically or in terms of rights or in terms of autonomy, I think what we do in this show is in touch with all of these concepts.”

She-Hulk will debut on Disney+ on Aug. 17. Check out the latest trailer here.