She Hulk director Kat Coiro talks genre-smashing finale

Action-packed legal comedy She Hulk only ended his first season very much in the vein of Jennifer Walters, not to mention anticipating the character’s future. Director Kat Coiro recently sat down with io9 to chat about the season and offer her own take on a Wonder show and that KEVIN appearance with Jens wink to the X-Men coming to MCU.

Sabina Graves, io9: Let’s start with the finale. How unbelievable – the wildest breaking the fourth wall I’ve ever seen. It was so unexpected to see Jen perusing the Disney+ menu and then showing up at Marvel Studios. How were the conversations with the She Hulk team considering how to put this together, and what influenced your decisions to do so?

Kat Coiro: Well, it’s funny when we talk about her browsing the Disney menu – I was really hoping people would think her TV had a malfunction. I remember when we storyboarded the film we were very careful about the timing so that it was enough for people to think something had happened, but not so much that they went and changed the channel. And so it feels like it worked, which is exciting. Another important part of the process was that you have a character that lives on a show and she recognizes that and is aware of the fact that she has a show. So when she goes into the real world of the Disney site, we wanted it to be as realistic as possible. We changed the aspect ratio. We changed our shooting style. And we also wanted to shoot on Disney property. And you know, it wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. Ironically, it was one of the most difficult locations to secure. But I felt like being there and the authenticity of it was really important. The receptionist in the finale is the real Marvel receptionist. He auditioned with other actors and won the role. And so I think, as outlandish as it is, it’s still very real.

io9: I thought something was wrong with my TV for about two seconds. I said, “Wait, what did we hit? Did the dog hit the remote?” Because sometimes that happens at home. I’m curious about the inclusion of KEVIN; I read that Jon Hamm was once considered to stunt Kevin. When did it become an AI? Was that on the side?

Coconut: No, that was our hope [Marvel’s] Kevin Feige would do the voice, but he didn’t feel like it. And he really wanted to make sure there was a separation between himself and the AI ​​brain. But yeah, a million names were thrown out: Danny DeVito, Jon Hamm, [and] At one point in the edits I did the voice, but I think it really works best with the robot voice. Part of the fun of Marvel is that there’s no clue Not accounted for, so we had a billion versions of it before we ended up where we did.

io9: Did the actual Kevin Feige influence the look of KEVIN’s hat? I appreciate the reference to that.

Coconut: Yes. At first he was resistant. In the first few illustrations, the robot had a real baseball cap on it, which he didn’t like. And then we subtly integrated it and slowly made it less subtle. I was just glad everyone got it because there was a point where it was so subtle I didn’t think everyone would have gotten it.

io9: There were a lot of techniques used throughout the season in terms of the tone of a comedy law show that somehow integrated with the Marvel action. What particularly stood out to you when you were able to capture Jen’s POV that helped inform the world you were showing, letting audiences know this isn’t standard Marvel fare?

Coconut: I mean, look, I think what makes good action is never the action sequences, it’s the connection between the audience and the hero. For me, part of the excitement of our show is that we have so much time to develop her character and to see those small, intimate moments of her own dates, her in her apartment, her with her friends. So when you get to the plot, you’re really invested in it because you kind of love her as a full person. Plot-driven movies don’t give you that in the same way a more meandering series does. That being said I was so excited as [episode] 108 allowed us to just focus on high-octane action and enjoy that aspect of the MCU.

io9: The throwback opening was amazing, can you put us behind the process of deciding on it and shooting it a bit? I like how analog it looks.

Coconut: I just posted the boards of this sequence to my Instagram because it was so carefully created based on the original but also with those little flairs that are attached to our show because it’s essentially a fever dream that Jen has. And of course, if you’re a confident character living on your own TV show, your fever dream is a credit sequence from another TV show. My favorite story from it is that bodybuilder Devon Lewis, who plays the practical, green-painted She-Hulk, said that when he was a little boy, he always dreamed of being the Hulk. But he never imagined this Hulk would be standing in a sparkling Zuhair Murad evening dress – we joked that we’re very specific about how you manifest your childhood dreams. But it was just a blast, you know? And we shot it to look analog.

io9: Amazing. And finally, I really love that shot of Tatiana Maslany when she asks KEVIN about the X-Men – just that look on her face that I thought was iconic. Was that like a natural choice for you? You guys just threw it in and she said, “That’s what I’m gonna do.” Or was there an ulterior motive?

Coconut: This is really funny because we made a sequence of just questions. You know, there’s a million questions, as you can imagine, that you could ask Kevin if they were in his inner sanctum. So that was one of many questions. And that little moment, it’s just one of those magical moments. But Tatiana is so specific. She makes such thoughtful decisions. So there’s nothing really random about her, which is pretty great about her.

She Hulk is now streaming on Disney+.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Wonder and war of stars What’s next for the releases DC Universe in Film and TVand everything you need to know about it house of the dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.