Tatiana Maslany said she was upset by the showbiz phrase “strong female lead.”
The 36-year-old actress spoke to The Guardian on Saturday about her disdain for the concept ahead of her high-profile role as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
“Because it’s reductive,” said the Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada-born star. “It’s just as much a nuance scraping and just as much a trope. It’s a box no one fits in. The sentence itself is frustrating. It’s like we should be thankful that we get to be that.”
The latest: Tatiana Maslany, 36, said she was upset by the showbiz term “strong female lead” before embarking on her high-profile role as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law plays
The Emmy-winning Orphan Black actress said she hopes for a day when a woman portraying a superhero is no longer seen as unique.
“I’m really interested in when these [marginalized] Voices can speak without saying, “Oh my god, it’s all women” or “Oh my god, that’s a story about an odd couple,” and those stories are expected as they are special now. She said.
Maslany said she wasn’t at liberty to reveal too many details about the upcoming series, adding, “But I kind of like that because as viewers we all love surprises, don’t we?”
She said that her character is a lawyer who begins her career when “something happens that makes her superhuman and the story follows her struggle with that thing”.
The Emmy-winning Orphan Black actress said she hopes for a day when a woman portraying a superhero is no longer seen as unique
Maslany said that her character is a lawyer who begins her career when “something happens that makes her superhuman and the story follows her struggle with that thing”.
Maslany said of her character, “What drew me to the role is how human and unheroic she is and how uninterested she is in pursuing all of this.”
Maslany opened up work on the show with veteran Hulk star Mark Ruffalo as her character is Bruce Banner’s storyline cousin.
“He’s such a special guy and he has this childish wonder about everything,” Maslany said. “But as the Hulk, he has this physical dexterity and character precision that you can really see.”
She said that while filming the series, both wore understated but high-tech outfits that were designed to complement their body movements and facial expressions.
“Everyone else gets these very cool superhero outfits, and there we were in these little gray suits,” she joked.
Maslany said of working on the show with veteran Hulk star Mark Ruffalo, “He’s such a special guy and he has this childlike wonder about everything.”
Maslany said the series recognizes how the character differs from previous female Marvel characters and said she thinks “there’s been this paradigm shift.”
“It takes time and it’s about finding new ways to tell stories,” she said. “What made me say, ‘Oh OK, this feels fresh and surprising’ is that it feels deeply, if I may use a binary term, feminine. There’s something girly about it. That word is often used as a derisive term, but to me, there’s a celebration of female friendship in She-Hulk that’s really fun.
In the interview, Maslany spoke about her beginnings as a child actress and what it was like to work as a teenager.
“I don’t know how you go from 10-hour workdays to school with a bunch of adults who are expected to perform and sit at desks with other kids,” she said. “My co-workers all started going out and I was like, ‘Huh? What’s all this about? In a way I couldn’t quite understand both worlds.’
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law also stars Tim Roth, Benedict Wong, Ginger Gonzaga and Jameela Jamil. The series is slated to launch Thursday on Disney+.