Julia Louis-Dreyfus acted as 'on-set mum' to her Thunderbolts* co-stars: 'She has the best snacks'

Seinfeld and Veep star tells The National about navigating the Marvel universe and avoiding too many laughs

It does not matter what stage of your career you are at – there is nothing quite like making a Marvel film.

Even multi-award-winning TV actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is not quite sure how to handle the global fervour of the franchise’s fans. Last week she attended the premiere of Thunderbolts*, in which she stars as the villainous Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Despite being a pop culture star with 11 Emmy Awards to her name, she was stunned by the reception.

Louis-Dreyfus tells The National: “To witness it is kind of awe-inspiring. It’s a different deal altogether.”

And while the actress, 64, famed for her roles in Seinfeld and Veep may still be getting used to the huge scale of the film, her co-stars are getting used to having a comedy heavyweight among their ranks.

Geraldine Viswanathan, who co-stars as Mel, puts it plainly: “She’s the coolest, smartest, funniest, hottest – she’s just the greatest. She’s really just the person that I want to be.”

“Yep, everything I do is perfect,” Louis-Dreyfus adds with a smile.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as the villainous Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Photo: Marvel

Every elder statesman handles their role a bit differently. Some prefer to pontificate, others to distance themselves entirely. Louis-Dreyfus, on the other hand, is a bit more practical. She lets her co-stars do their thing when acting, behaving more as a caretaker to her younger collaborators between takes.

“She’s such a good mum,” says Viswanathan. “She makes sure we stay hydrated. And she’s always got good snacks.”

Louis-Dreyfus specifies: “Dill pickle potato chips and pumpkin seeds.”

Found family is certainly the vibe of Thunderbolts*, both in front of and behind the camera. The story finds a host of Marvel’s most dysfunctional anti-heroic characters united against a common foe – their boss, played by Louis-Dreyfus.

While each of these characters has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, this feels decidedly different from the franchise’s other recent instalments. Director Jake Schreier (Netflix/A24’s Beef) relied far more on in-camera effects and dramatic chops and far less on green screen and CGI, giving the movie a throwback feel.

Schreier says: “When I came in, [Marvel head] Kevin Feige said: 'Make it different.’ And if you’re going to tell a more internal, human story about these characters, you’re going to need the world around them to feel more human too – more tactile and home-made.

“You want even the things behind their head to not be green-screen CG extensions, because you’ll notice it. We wanted to avoid those triggers of: ‘Is this real?’”

It has been hugely successful. The film has received the best reviews of any Marvel movie in years, with fans welcoming the studio's return to its most winning formula: building flawed, human characters that audiences cannot help but root for.

A big part of how Schreier accomplished that was through his all-star cast, which features not only Louis-Dreyfus and Viswanathan, but Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell and David Harbour.

“They care so much about these characters that they'll really let you know if they think there's a moment in there that feels false to where that character would be,” says Schreier.

David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen, Florence Pugh and Wyatt Russell in Thunderbolts*. Photo: Marvel

“All of them made changes to the script. They each brought their own perspective, and wanted to honour the truth of their characters, and then it was my responsibility to honour their performance,” he continues.

For Louis-Dreyfus, who has a good case for being crowned the queen of comedy, the biggest challenge was stopping herself from being too funny.

“There were moments when I felt like we could have pushed the comedy in a way that would have been wholly inappropriate, but really fun for us,” she says.

“We did riff, and when it worked story- and tone-wise, it was folded in. Some of that definitely made it into the movie, but we relied heavily on Jake to help us find where the balance was.”

While Louis-Dreyfus is thrilled with her Marvel experience, the challenge now will be finding something else that will scratch an itch she's never scratched before.

“There's lots of things left out there I still want to try. Why, you got something for me?” she asks.

Thunderbolts* is in cinemas now across the Middle East