Tatiana Maslany has stated that she is not, in fact, She-Hulk. And while this would be a slightly more controversial statement if it applied to an actual superhero secret identity—and yes, we know, Jennifer “She-Hulk” Walters doesn’t actually do the “secret identity” thing, typically—it’s still somewhat of a surprise, since it was previously reported by “sources” (via Deadline) that she’d signed on to play the superhero lawyer in Disney+’s She-Hulk show. He-Hulk Mark Ruffalo even went so far as to welcome Maslany to the Hulk family—although maybe that should have been a giveaway, since Marvel probably doesn’t give ol’ “Loose Lips” Ruffalo the inside scoop on the stuff it’s planning much anymore.
Contrary to those reports, though, Maslany told Ontario’s Sudbury Star this week that there’s no truth to the casting news. In the words of the Orphan Black star—who was interviewed by the newspaper in relation to her role as a juror for Canada’s Glenn Gould Prize, awarded this year to filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin—“That actually isn’t a real thing and it’s like a press release that’s gotten out of hand,” adding, pretty unequivocally, that, “It’s not actually a thing, unfortunately.”
The She-Hulk show is one of a whole bunch of Marvel-based series that Disney+ is slowly getting in order at the moment, with Rick And Morty writer Jessica Gao signed on to pen the scripts, and Kat Coiro (whose credits include It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and The Mick) set to direct the pilot and several subsequent episodes. The series now has, well, nobody attached to star; it’s not clear, exactly, what Maslany meant about a “press release that’s gotten out of hand,” but she’s being pretty upfront about the fact that she’s not involved in the show at present.
[via CBR]
65 Comments
Same here. Okay, that’s two of us, we’re narrowin’ it down!
I am certainly not in this, though I can neither confirm nor deny my casting as Dazzler for a new Disney+ series.
that’s what Dazzler was always intended as: a teevee show or movie
*Doctorwhotb casually jokes about a Dazzler series*
Do not play with my emotions!
So it’s not her and it’s not you …. I bet it’s Betty White.
Too bad Bea Arthur is no longer with us. She’d be a great She-Hulk.
Bea-Hulk.
We’d all watch the fuck out of that show.
God’s gonna get you for that, SpaceCowboy!
How awesome would that be?!
I’d like to be, but at 6’3, I’m to tall for Jennifer and too short for Shulkie… Oh, well, seeing as I can’t act, it’s moot anyway.
I’m Spartacus, . . . I mean, Not Hulk, . . .
In unrelated news, I’m pleased to announce Tatiana Maslany has signed on to be my wife. I mean, she doesn’t know it yet, but maybe she’ll catch wind of this and think, “Hey! What an idea!” This seems to be the Disney strategy after all.
I find it hard to believe that the internet would take something that wasn’t true and just run with it before doing any research.
It came from Deadline. And she was congratulated by the Director and Writervof the series.Maslany is either a) lying because Disney wants to make a big thing about it on December 10th during their next meeting or b) negotiations fell through at the last second.
Yeah in many instances the above commenters points would be valid and will probably always be. This one the public had actual sources that for all our knowledge are reliable for entertainment news and even Ruffalo seemingly confirming it. It wasn’t one of those stupid comic book rumor sites that likes to speculate based on nothing or someone’s Youtube video.
The latter option seems most likely. Maybe somebody leaked the story during negotiations in a last-ditch effort to get past a roadblock.
This “news” broke a month ago. What’s more surprising is that this is apparently the first time anyone’s brought it up to Marvel or Maslany in four weeks.
When she quarantines she really quarantines.
And it was some schulb up in Sudbury, the Canadian hotbed of entertainment journalism
Weird. In Shaun Diston’s TMNT podcast, they were joking about having her play She-Shredder like the day before the news dropped, and as she kept saying She-Shredder she at one point clearly almost said She-Hulk.I’m super bummed if she’s not She-Hulk, she’s absolutely perfect for the role. Hilarious, great at playing multiple personalities, seems like she could beat me in a fight.
Much as I love Tatiana in Orphan Black, I’d been thinking she is a bit petit to play a jade giantess.
You’re probably right. But damn this is a swift kick to the nuts
Shes bs-ing. Both the show’s director and writer have previously confirmed the news. She probably just can’t say anything atm.
She talks to ATM’s?
Look on the bright side: it probably would have hurt more if she’d been a jade giantess!
Agreed. Much as I’m a fan of her, she doesn’t really have the height to play She-hulk, who is well over 6′ tall. And while the physique is a matter of training, that might have been a deal breaker for her — building and maintaining that kind of muscle mass is extremely demanding (even unhealthy if it hasn’t been a normal part of a person’s life all along), and more than a few former “superhero” actors were quite happy to let that part of their lives go for a more normal workout routine to stay in shape.Of course, the number of known and proven tall actresses in Hollywood is rather limited, and even more so in the age range that the casting director is shooting for if Tatiana was/is a possible choice. At the height of her BSG fame, Tricia Helfer would have been almost perfect, but ageist Hollywood would likely consider her ‘too old’ for the part now (not that I agree, but it’s a real factor that actresses routinely contend with).
You hire Bill Bixby and use special effects for the green stuff.
I keep telling you, Bill Bixby is 86 years old and he’s dead!
So? I heard actors like to stretch!
I was thinking, even Robbie Coltrane had to be embiggened considerably for his role in the Harry Potter movies — couldn’t they just “Hagrid” She-Hulk? As in, forget Maslany, and hire Robbie Coltrane?
According to this logic, most of the male actors are also wrong for the part, especially RDJ for Iron Man who should be like 2 meters tall.
RDJ is 5’9″ according to Google. Iron-man is 6’1″ according to the Marvel Comic database. In comparison, Maslany is 5’4″, but She-Hulk is supposed to be 6’7″. It’s a much more significant height difference.
And how tall is Mark Ruffalo?Since anyone they cast will have to be embiggenned significantly, they should be entirely casting based on someone’s ability to balance David E Kelley courtroom dramedy with Big/Shazam-esque joy, with action scenes.
So no. First of all, RDJ is actually 174 cm which would make him 5’7’’. Secondly, Iron Man should be 6’6’’ according to the comics, it’s only inthe MCU that they made him only 6’1′ probably because of RDJ’s low stature. Thirdly, if they were so nice to change the character’s height I the past, I don’t see why they shouldn’t do it again for a woman with so much talent.
Ruffalo is shorter than the Hulk too. They’ll just mo-cap everything.
Jennifer Walters is 5’1″ un-Hulked so Tatiana Maslany is actually about 3 inches too tall if we’re being real sticklers for accuracy.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Walters_(Earth-616)5′ 10′, apparently.
So Maslany would be ideal for about the first 10 minutes of the pilot, before Jennifer Walters becomes She-Hulk. But if they’re going to keep the character consistent with the comic book portrayal, She-Hulk NEVER willingly reverted to her Jennifer Walters form. She despised it. In her time with the Avengers, she once lost her powers temporarily and was devastated to be “just” Jennifer again. Later on, as part of the Fantastic Four, Reed informed her she had lost the ability to change from her She-Hulk form back to Jen Walters and her only remark was “What’s the bad news?”
Jennifer Walters is a mousy, tiny lawyer.
I don’t think her size is an issue, really, but doesn’t She-Hulk basically stay “hulked” most of the time? Not having the personality issues and all.
Well, I’d say it’s more about having a DIFFERENT personality issue than Banner, haha!Main thing is…Gina Carano is closer to Maslany’s size than she is Shulkie’s – whoever they cast will require a bunch of SFX no matter what, so the primary concerns are nailing the workplace comedy and the personality shift.My ideal casting (for this and, frankly, every role in everything) would be Amy Acker circa 2005.I actually think Larson would have been perfect, if they’d gotten someone like Theron for Carol.“Demure lawyer becomes a giant green goddess, and has the TIME of her LIFE” is a much better use of her talents and range than “Steely badass is a steely badass who badasses steelily.”
This isn’t the first time a Marvel actor has denied being in something after being cast, though she is handling this a bit weird. Considering all the people who retweeted the Deadline article and publicly congratulated her about it, I’m taking this as the Marvel contract being so strict she’s just denying it still out of caution. You don’t have the showrunner, director, writers, and castmate all make noise on social media about it if they don’t know that you are actually cast.
It’s weird she calls it “a press release that’s gotten out of hand”, not a rumour or premature announcement or whatever. I’d take this with a grain of salt just like the original story. When she says it’s not a thing she could mean that there’s no plans to start production or make anything official right now because the world has gone mad, or even just be trying to steer an interviewer back to the subject at hand and misspeaking. Anyway, whatever. I love her work but dunno if she’s particularly suited to this role. She’s 5,3″!
What’s with all this “she’s 5’3″!” shit in 2020? You’re all acting like this is beyond Hollywood’s VFX capabilities.
I dunno, since she generally stays in she-hulk form it just makes sense to me to get someone who’s believably that stature so every shot isn’t some forced perspective or VFX. Big difference between someone being a good actor and being right for a role, even with limitless VFX capabilities.
She normally stays as Shulkie because “Jen Walters” was a tiny, shy, mousey lawyer.Casting a tall woman to play a short woman who can turn into a tall woman would actually be MORE CGI – they’d have to First Avenger her in all the Jen scenes, and they’d STILL be doing a full CGI version of Shulk (who’s 6’7” when she transforms).Plus, of course, the energy of Jen-as-Shulk is very much Big/Shazam, rather than Lou Ferrigno.
I mean it would only be more CGI if they have a full CGI She-Hulk, which wouldn’t necessarily have to be the case considering unlike regular Hulk, she essentially looks like a normal person except green and big. Having a full CGI main character would be a pretty big ask for a TV budget, even something with the Marvel branding.You’re right about the big/shazam thing, Maslany is obviously great with that stuff, I just dunno what direction they plan on taking it. Full CGI/different actors/same actor with clever camera tricks and prosthetics, they’re all viable options depending on the show they want to make.
I mean, the scale of “Bigness” for Shulkie is Hulk Hogan, haha…and these Disney+ miniseries are explicitly being made with MCU production values – they’re not gonna have her in green paint.If they’re cutting costs, they’ll do it by keeping Jen out of Hulk-mode for long stretches of the miniseries…which also points towards casting someone based on their fit for the Ally McBeal side of the show, haha.(In fact, someone who nails the Ally McBeal parts of the show should be their first and last priority, regardless of body type – Melissa McCarthy has aged out of the role, but I could see her KILLING IT as Jen).
I don’t expect it to be ‘green paint’ in the 70s Hulk vein, there’s a lot of room for maneuver between ‘full cgi character’ and the stuff they could do on a high end TV budget with an actor on set. SFX has come a long way, it’s perfectly possible to use both prosthetics/make up and CGI together. Nothing about that’s a criticism. Wandavision is clearly not made with the production values of a blockbuster movie, that doesn’t mean it’s operating on a shoestring. You’d hope they’d come up with something more creative than ‘not having she-hulk in the bulk of the show’.
My main thing is that someone like, say, Gina Carano is built more like Maslany than Shulkie.If they’re “doing Shulkie right,” they’ll have to use a ton of CGI, regardless of who the actress is…meaning that all that really matters is how well they can sell the complete personality change, how well they can handle the Ally McBeal-esque office banter, and how well they can handle Mo-Cap fight scenes (for which a dance background arguably offers better preparation than combat sports).
Yeah, there’s no way I’m buying she let this story go out there for a whole month before telling this one small town newspaper the truth. It’s such a weird thing to do I’m actually wondering if she got fired for something so bad they have to cover it up now.
Did a double-take at the end when I thought the sourcing said “via CBB”. What’s up hot dog?
In related news, Tatiana’s audition for Sha Na Na went great!
She’s not tall enough to play Bowser
can i have some votes for a foam latex costume?
We’ll take Sigourney Weaver instead, thanks.
There’s probably two ways this is going to play out:
1. The press release is real, but was leaked.
2. It genuinely isn’t real, but someone is trying to will it into existence.
In with the obligatory “It was a case of mistaken identity, it was one of her clones that got the part”.
Well if they can’t get the actress who played Sarah in Orphan Black, they should just get the actress who played Cosima instead.
If they want to give the role to an Alison Brie-type, as previously reported, they should give it to actual Alison Brie.
The thing I think people don’t realize is most of the recent casting news for Marvel is not coming from official press releases but from the media. The sources, like Variety, are likely reliable and correct, but the actors probably can’t confirm the news because Marvel hasn’t officially announced it themselves.Maslaney as She-Hulk, Vellani as Kamala Khan, Jamie Foxx returning as Electro and Strange in Spidey 3 – these are all breaks that Marvel / Sony have had no official comment on. Even the Nick Fury D+ show is something that hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.I’d guess Feige and Disney wanted to do an announcement event for a lot of the recent news to ramp up excitement for the D+ shows and Phase 4 movies. Would not be surprised if Maslaney gets confirmed as She-Hulk then along with all of the other news of late.
Things probably weren’t finalized and now has fallen through. GLOW got cancelled, so maybe Marvel was able to get Alison Brie after all?
Well that’s slightly disappointing. She would have been a good choice!
The Sudbury Star