Why She-Hulk Had To Cut Down On CGI Scenes

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law writer Jessica Gao reveals that she was asked to cut down on CGI-heavy scenes for the new MCU show in order to keep the budget down. Based on the run of Marvel comics of the same name, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is the latest MCU show to hit Disney+. The show follows attorney Jessica Walter (Tatiana Maslany), cousin to Mark Ruffalo's Hulk/Bruce Banner, as she attempts to juggle her job with being a supersized hulk. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has earned mostly positive reviews from critics thus far, with many praising the show's humor and Maslany's lead performance.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law marks a first for the MCU roster of Disney+ shows, because it's been designed as a half-hour comedy, but that doesn't mean the show doesn't also have the superhero action Marvel is known for. As has been shown off in the trailers, Walters does frequently appear as She-Hulk, with one sequence, in particular, documenting a training montage with Ruffalo's character. It didn't take long after the release of the show's trailers, however, for many fans to take issue with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's CGI, which many claimed was lacking compared to other MCU projects.

In a new interview with Variety, Gao discusses her role as the head writer when it comes to the show's CGI, revealing that she was asked on multiple occasions to cut effects-heavy scenes in order to keep costs down. Gao explains that, as the show got entered production and budgets were being ironed out, she was frequently asked to change She-Hulk to Jen or to cut She-Hulk scenes altogether. Check out Gao's full comment below:

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.

Mark Ruffalo and Tatiana Maslany as Hulk and Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk

Although initial reactions to She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's CGI were mostly negative, newer versions of the trailer that are less compressed have alleviated many fan concerns about the show's visual effects. Gao's comments come amidst a growing public understanding of the MCU's inconsistent visual effects process, which some within the industry have criticized for involving grueling working conditions, short turn-around times, and changing directives. Like the MCU's other Disney+ shows, it's also unclear what the budget for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law actually is, but considering the effects-heavy nature of bringing Hulk, She-Hulk, and Abomination to life, it's likely quite substantial, even taking Gao's comments into consideration.

Gao's comments do suggest a potential problem with MCU shows more generally, in the sense that bringing superhero stories to life on the small screen with a TV budget is a challenging endeavor. It remains to be seen how fans will respond to She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and the show's CGI, but initial critics' reactions would suggest that the changes made for the sake of budgeting thankfully haven't affected the overall quality of the show too significantly. While the MCU's big blockbusters likely have to make similar concessions when it comes to budgeting, Gao's comments about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law suggest the issue might be more pronounced when it comes to Disney+'s Marvel lineup.

Source: Variety