She-Hulk Director Talks Introducing Jameela Jamil’s Titania

Marvel Studios is getting ready to release another exciting episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law this week, and it’s expected to introduce Daredevil to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The most recent episode of the series showed Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) take on Titania (Jameela Jamil) in the courtroom over the copyright of the titular characters name. Jamil has already appeared in two episodes and her version of the character is interesting to say the least. While she doesn’t exactly seem like a match for our hero in the physical sense she was definitely a match in the court of law. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law director Anu Valia recently sat down with ComicBook.con’s Jenna Anderson, where she revealed how they went about introducing Titania.

“Yeah, and that’s another credit to the writers, the way they deal with Titania as a villain. The elements they took of her from the comics and then how they changed that to be a little bit more biting in today’s culture. And I thought that was really smart,” Valia told us. “I think what Jameela brought to her was so pitch perfect. You’re just like, “Oh, she’s an amalgam of all these different types,” but she plays it with such a deep… I don’t know. I feel like there is also deep insecurity. I think that’s where it really comes from. And I feel like that comes out because she is so blinders on, “I’m going to make this other woman the bane of… I’m going to be the bane of her existence.” And that doesn’t happen unless there is insecurity there. And so again, I think there’s the skewering of culture, but I feel like it comes from a very smart place. And that’s obviously all credit to the writers, and then the actors come in and they do so much. There’s just so many more layers. It doesn’t feel one note, at least to me.”

The series recently went through some controversy over how the titular character’s visual effects looked. She-Hulk was still being worked on when the first teaser was released so the CGI was unfinished, and fans tore the look apart. With the series so close to premiering, the people behind-the-scenes are spoke on fan outrage. During the TCA’s, Gao, Coiro, and Maslany revealed how they felt about the CGI fiasco.

“In terms of the CGI being critiqued, I think that has to do with our culture’s belief in its ownership of women’s bodies,” Coiro said. “I think a lot of the critique comes from feeling like they’re able to tear apart the CGI woman. There’s a lot of talk about about her body type and we based it on Olympian athletes and not bodybuilders. But I think if we had gone the other way, we would be facing the same critique. I think it’s very hard to win when you make women’s bodies.”

“This is a massive undertaking to have a show where the main character is CG,” the head writer says. “It’s terrible that a lot of artists feel rushed and and feel that the workload is too massive. I think everybody on this panel is stands in solidarity with all workers. We stand in solidarity with what they say the truth is,” Coiro who directed episodes of the series continued. “We work with them, but we’re not behind the scenes on these long nights and days. If they’re feeling pressure we stand with them and we listen to them.”

“I feel incredibly deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work. Obviously, much quicker than probably should be given to them in terms of like churning these things out. We have to like be super conscious of the work conditions which aren’t always optimal.” Maslany added.

“Directed by Kat Coiro (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9) and Anu Valia (Episodes 5, 6, 7) with Jessica Gao as head writer, “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. Theh nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kat Coiro and Jessica Gao. Co-executive producers are Wendy Jacobson and Jennifer Booth.”

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is streaming exclusively on Disney+! 

What do you think about Titania? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!