“Women shouldn’t be angry”

Just to get one thing straight: She-Hulk: The attorney is not a superhero series. At least not really. Because Jennifer Walters gets similar powers as her cousin Bruce Banner aka Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) through an accident. However, she neither wants to become part of the Avengers nor fight overpowering aliens, but wants to ensure law and order as a lawyer. The result is one MCU sitcom with Deadpool borrowingswhich, however, also strikes a serious note and will be available on Disney+ from August 18, 2022.

Leading actress Tatiana Maslany knows how to play a woman between multiple identities. Before She-Hulk, the Emmy-winner for the outstanding sci-fi drama series Orphan Black slipped into a total of 14 (!) different roles. For Jennifer Walters, she explores a character somewhere between self-realization, the need to control and justified anger. She spoke to us about why it is so frowned upon as a woman to be angry – and why she prefers the “boring” Marvel moments to the really big action scenes.

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Movie Pilot: Jennifer Walters seems like she’s got her Hulk personality completely under control. So what do you think is her biggest problem on the show?

Tatiana Maslany: I think the element of control, being able to remain herself when she becomes She-Hulk goes hand in hand with the fact that she’s so clinging to the life she’s built for herself. She went to school for years, studied a lot and worked hard to climb the career ladder. she is primarily a lawyer and very much defined by it.

I think that kind of control also keeps them from accepting that other part of themselves. But he also belongs to Jen. The fact that she’s so stiff is partly her fault, but at the same time, in a strange way, her superpower.

The series alludes to the theme of female anger and what it’s like for women to be easily labeled as over-emotional. It often seems as if Jennifer Walter’s problem isn’t that she’s She-Hulk, but that she’s a woman in a career field that’s very male-dominated.

I love this interpretation! I believe that is absolutely true.

Have you had experiences like this before?

Yes absolutely. Funnily enough, I’ve chosen a career where I can use my emotions in my work. I have permission to express myself in this way professionally. But even under these conditions it’s different for you as an actress to show anger. This can also be “managed” by a director or the tone of a set. When I’m shooting a scene, I can have a harder time accessing anger as an emotion because I’ve been socially taught that it’s not “nice” or “pleasing” or “feminine.”

Outside of [der Filmbranche] I definitely feel that. In almost every interaction you are taught that women are not allowed to be angry. That anger makes them unlovable. Jen says on the show that she learned to control herself to survive, to stay safe. Of course, the show is comedic in nature, but underneath it all there’s a very scary, very real truth.

Is She-Hulk a feminist series?

I think the word can mean many different things to many different people. And there are different versions of feminism that have split off from each other. Above all, the series wants to tell a story from Jen’s perspective. The way she constantly speaks to the audience is an attempt not to let her own story be taken away from her. There’s something about it that feels feminist to me.

Nevertheless, it is of course the journey of a single person. Much of feminism revolves around a group, a community, and supporting people who are in no position to control their own history. So there is a contradiction there. But I think the core is feminist, yes.

For Tatiana Maslany, the “boring” Marvel moments are the most exciting

You already mentioned that the series is very comedic. What I actually find very funny are the questions that Jen Walters asks about the Avengers. Are they getting paid for their missions, Captain America is still a virgin… Is there a personal Marvel question that you’ve always wondered about?

I don’t know if a specific question comes to mind right now, but actually what I find most fun about She-Hulk is how we can watch her do it like she does doing totally mundane things. Like helping her father carry something heavy into the garage. For me, these moments in between are what I find most interesting as a viewer.

Yes, they save the world, but what do they do afterwards? Do they then sit down at a diner, eat a cheeseburger and scroll through their phone? I like those moments because I can identify with them and they reveal so much more about a person than the ones where something blows up. I always like to look at the boring stuff! [lacht] I find that the most exciting.

You did a series with Orphan Black that was notorious for its dedicated fanbase, the Clone Club. Do you think that prepared you a bit for what’s to come with what might be the biggest fan club in the world, the Marvel followers?

I don’t really know how this fandom feels yet because the series hasn’t started yet. But when it was announced at Comic-Con, I felt a certain warmth. Orphan Black showed me ways to interact with fans. Whether it’s fan art or fan fiction or actual books in which they analyze the show, it’s an amazing gift to be given something like that.

When you do a TV show, it feels like you’re in a vacuum. The moments when you connect with the audience are all the stronger. Everything else doesn’t matter. It’s just noise that I can’t control.

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