Hot girl court is in session: How She-Hulk got Megan Thee Stallion for that ah!-mazing cameo
Warning: This article contains spoilers about episode 3 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
When Tatiana Maslany agreed to play Jennifer Walters a.k.a. She-Hulk, never in a million years did she imagine it would lead to her twerking alongside Megan Thee Stallion. "But I hoped it would," the actor jokes with EW. "That's why you take a big Marvel gig. That's why you do it."
Somehow, Maslany's improbable dream actually came true. Episode 3 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (now streaming on Disney+) features what, at first, seems to be a hilarious throwaway bit where Jen's obnoxious former coworker Dennis (Drew Matthews) hires her new firm to sue his "Tinder Swindler" ex-girlfriend. He thought she was the "Hot Girl Summer" rapper, but she was really just an Asgardian shapeshifter pretending to be Megan Thee Stallion to defraud him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. During the trial, Jen wins the case by proving that Dennis is so delusional that he would actually think he's dating the real Megan Thee Stallion ... and then the camera pans over to reveal the real Megan Thee Stallion was in the courtroom, watching the entire thing. "That's right, there's only one Megan Thee Stallion! Ah!" she says.
"We didn't even know that we could dream that big," head writer Jessica Gao tells EW of getting the "Savage" rapper to film the cameo. "When we wrote the script, all we knew was we needed to have a female celebrity who was very famous, very successful, and very beautiful. But we didn't know if it was going to be an actress, or a model, or a musician. And depending on who it was, we knew we'd probably have to tweak the story a little bit to fit whoever we ended up casting."
The writers "went through so many different names" while brainstorming who the celebrity cameo would be — but it was actually cast member Jameela Jamil (who plays supervillain influencer Titania) who thought of Megan, since the two women previously worked together on HBO Max's reality competition series Legendary. "Jameela one day floated the idea of Megan," Gao says. "And the moment she said that, and the moment we realized that that could be a possibility, we were like, 'Stop everything. That's it. The conversation's done. We only care about Megan now. And if Megan will do it, then that settles it.' "
"The character was scripted as a celebrity who never in a billion years would we believe would date Dennis Bukowski," director Kat Coiro tells EW. "When Jameela suggested Megan, we all lost our minds. She's perfect on so many levels, just as a beautiful young celebrity who would never date Dennis Bukowski, but also as a powerful woman who embodies a lot of what She-Hulk embodies. And then it was a little cherry on top that Tatiana is the world's biggest Megan fan. As soon as that name came up, there was nobody else."
Marvel Studios
Now they just needed Megan to say yes. The She-Hulk creative team knew they already had a way in by using Jamil's connection, but it turns out they actually didn't have to do much convincing. "We found out that Megan loves Marvel and superhero stuff, so it was incredible," Gao says. "It really came together very quickly, and we didn't even have time to stop and just stand in awe at the fact that this was actually happening. It was everyone's dream come true, especially Tatiana."
And you didn't think She-Hulk: Attorney at Law would enlist Megan Thee Stallion for a cameo without twerking, did you?! This week's post-credits scene features the rapper signing a contract to become Jen's new client, and they celebrate appropriately by dancing to "Body" in her office together. Everyone made sure to be on set while that scene was filmed, and it became a season highlight. "Oh my god, I mean, the camera loves her. She looks perfect. She was so excited to be there," Gao says, adding with a laugh, "That last scene where the two of them are dancing, did you ever in your life imagine that would be possible in the MCU?"
Coiro reveals that she actually had to tell the camera operators to stop being "polite" and focus more on Megan's butt while filming that scene. "I had to keep telling them to tilt the camera down — get the butt," she says with a laugh. "Their reaction was to stay on the face, and I was like, 'Down, down, down!' "
The idea for the end credits scene came about simply because everyone wanted to see Megan and She-Hulk twerking together — especially Maslany. So Gao wrote it and let the two women run with it. "Tatiana really wanted a scene with Megan and we saw how fun that energy would be and how it would be a missed opportunity not to have them on screen together," Coiro says. "And we also learned that She-Hulk's a great twerker, which was a surprise to all of us."
Cast member Ginger Gonzaga, who plays Jen's best friend Nikki, was impressed with how Maslany held her own next to the queen of twerking. "Since Tatiana knows how to twerk so well, her ass may now replace the most iconic Marvel ass out there," she says with a laugh.
Maslany reveals that she didn't get any twerking tips from Megan before filming the scene. "She let me do my own thing. She let me enjoy my process," she says. "I was just trying not to cry, I was so excited. But I've been prepping my whole life. I've been watching Megan's videos since she came out, and seeing her on stage, and I'd done my hours." Maslany also adds that Gao didn't warn her about the end credits scene until two days before it was filmed. "She's like, 'I don't think we would get any filming done if you were aware that this is what was going to happen.' Because I would pass out. It was a dream. She's such an amazing person. She's so game for just playing."
"I think it was one of Tatiana's happiest days of her life," Gao says with a laugh. "I really hope that they release the dailies of that footage, because they danced for so long. I hope they just release all of it unedited, uncut, so that you can see the pure joy."
Maslany, however, hopes that footage never sees the light of day. "It definitely doesn't look as cool on the day as it does after the VFX have done their work on it," she says with a laugh. "It's this little gray pajama person and Megan Thee Stallion dancing together — it's a very odd pairing."
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