She-Hulk Star Reveals Character's Fake Name From Auditions
Marvel Studios loves to keep its secrets, including from actors in auditions. In the case of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star Steve Coulter, the character of Holden Holliway was disguised as a character named, "Nicholson," during the actor's audition process. In fact, the audition was so secretive that Coulter went into it playing the role a bit more seriously than the casting director was looking for and he landed the part of being the "H" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "GLK&H" after doing things a bit lighter with a second audition.
"Yes, it was my first time auditioning for Marvel," Coulter said on ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast. "Like a lot of shows and films now, they disguise the name of the character. It ended up being from the script from one of the episodes. He was called 'Nicholson,' I think, and I remember I'd sent in the audition that they'd asked for, and then I forgot about it a little bit, and then I was down in the Dominican Republic shooting a movie... Life is really hard as an actor in the middle of winter during the pandemic, I had to go to the [Dominican Republic]... And then I had to do a callback, because I didn't know it was a comedy, and so I did it a little heavier and they said, 'Well, no, think of it as it's going to be a comedy.' They may have mentioned Ally McBeal or something. I think a day or so went by, and then I got a little thing saying, Welcome to the Marvel Universe.' I was very tickled."
Coulter is no stranger to major properties. The actor was part of The Walking Dead's cast in its fifth season, which boasted some of the zombie show's highest rated episodes of all time. He also stars in Christopher Nolan's upcoming Oppenheimer film. While he admits Marvel's welcome basket was nice, he joked that there was, "a bag of money too, which was neat." The actor was fully having a good time on Phase Zero. "It was cool, it was FedEx, it was like $350,000, I was like, okay, this is why people like being in Marvel movies," he joked. "And then, 'Wake up Steve, you're having that bag of money dream again!'"
Auditions were not the only place where the production kept secrets from Coulter. Like many movies and shows, it seems She-Hulk operated on a need-to-know basis with most of its scripts. "Except for probably Tatiana, you would get all your scenes for the upcoming episodes, and sometimes you get a whole script," Coulter explained. "I was just out of the premier and then we got to see the first four episodes, I didn't know what was in all the Hulk/She-Hulk scenes, so just as a fan it was really kind of see. I got to see whole scripts on Walking Dead. I did Oppenheimer with Christopher Nolan and they only let you see your scenes."
Phase Zero Episode 2x33 is available now on all major podcast platforms. It is also available in video form on the ComicBook.com Twitch channel and the official Phase Zero YouTube channel. Phase Zero's new YouTube channel recently surpassed 1,300,000 views as the podcast saw an uptick in downloads with the bonus episode from San Diego Comic-Con. Links can be found below!
What do you think of She-Hulk so far? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter! She-Hulk drops new episodes on Disney+ on Thursdays, with live Phase Zero breakdowns following on its official YouTube channel.