‘She-Hulk’ Writer On How Much Had To Be Cut Due To Marvel’s VFX Budget


She-Hulk: Attorney at Law head writer Jessica Gao revealed several sequences featuring the title character had to be cut to stay within the Marvel series’ VFX budget.

Of all of Marvel’s Dinsey Plus series so far, She-Hulk is perhaps the most VFX-intensive, with a protagonist who spends much of her time as an entirely CG character. Delivering a TV series that revolves around such a character is obviously going to come with a lot of budgetary challenges.

Jessica Gao has revealed that several shots had to be dropped, or whole scenes had to have Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk swapped out for her human alter ego, Jennifer Walters, in order to keep the Disney Plus series in budget.

Jessica Gao recently spoke to Variety about the writing and realization of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, revealing the changes that had to be implemented as a result of the series’ VFX budget.

The head writer said that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had told her not to hold back on She-Hulk appearances while writing the script, as he didn’t want the show to fall short on the promise of its title. However, several She-Hulk moments had to be cut when the budget became a factor.

Speaking to about how much of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had to be altered, Jessica Gao said:

“I just knew CG was expensive. From the beginning, I asked Kevin [Feige], ‘How much can we do? How cost-conscious should I be? Give me some guidelines.’ And he said, ‘If I’m gonna watch a show called She-Hulk, I want to see She-Hulk.’ That kind of was the carte blanche to just write it however I wanted. And I remember distinctly thinking, ‘I hope we remember this conversation and the budgets come back and somebody gets mad at me for it.’…

“Once we got into pre-production and production itself, once somebody had to sit down and start figuring out the cost of everything, it was like every week, I was told, “Can you cut more She-Hulk scenes? Can you change more She-Hulk scenes to Jen? Can she be Jen in more scenes?” There were a lot of things that then had to be changed at the last minute to go from She-Hulk to Jen. Even in post, you know, we had to cut a lot of shots by virtue just because it was She-Hulk.”

Obviously, even for a blockbuster machine like Marvel, producing an entire TV series that relies on almost constant VFX is a costly endeavor and budgets have to be observed. However, if early reviews for She-Hulk are any indication, the series hasn’t been hampered by these changes.

Here is the synopsis for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law:

“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk.”

The series stars Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Benedict Wong, Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres on August 18th on Disney Plus. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming series, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Source: Variety



Source link