Even those who don’t work in Hollywood understand the challenges of being in a visual effects-heavy movie or series, like reacting to characters or scenery that aren’t actually seen on set. But Marvel Entertainment recently shared a behind the scenes look at the making of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and what Tatiana Maslany had to go through to bring the character to life.
For better or for worse, Marvel’s movies and streaming series have always been very dependent on visual effects and post-production to bring many characters and their amazing abilities to life. But She Hulk: Attorney at Law was the first Marvel series to have a lead character realized almost entirely through computer graphics. Tatiana Maslany, the actor who portrayed Jennifer Walters and her alter ego, She-Hulk, didn’t go the Lou Ferrigno route with green makeup and years spent in the gym bulking up.
However, a long morning spent in the makeup chair might have actually been a less arduous approach for Maslany. While her character was hulked out, she spent time on set wearing a motion capture suit, a helmet with a camera capturing her facial performance (with a face painted in tracking dots), and often a head extension so that other actors on set had a proper reference for sight lines and where they should be looking and making eye contact when talking to the much taller She-Hulk.
According to visual effects supervisors Shannon Justison and Dadi Einarsson, the production required petabytes of data to be captured on set in order to create She-Hulk in post production, and even posed some unique challenges when it came to the character’s wardrobe.
Characters realized through CG techniques often appear in maybe a couple of different outfits, but She-Hulk had 25 in total for when the character was in court, working out, or lounging at home, and each one required complicated simulations so they moved and behaved like real fabrics, or were authentically torn to shreds when Walters hulked out. That included a dress for a gala scene covered in millions of digital sequins that shimmered and sparkled when reacting to lights on set.
The next time you complain about having to change out of pajamas into corporate casual attire before heading to work: don’t, because others have wardrobe requirements much worse than khaki pants.
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