Mark Ruffalo Says Paul Thomas Anderson Won't Work with Actors Who Play Superheroes

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | February 23, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | February 23, 2024 |

In a recent interview with GQ, Mark Ruffalo admitted that there probably won’t be a solo Hulk movie.

“I’d love to do a standalone Hulk, I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen. It’s very expensive if you did a whole movie, which is why they use the Hulk so sparingly. I priced myself out!” He said.

There’s long been a debate about superhero roles—to take them or to not take them—and how playing those characters can affect an actor’s chances of getting other dramatic roles.

It’s something Ruffalo says he’s very much aware of. He told a story of another actor, who remained nameless, once asking him if he worried that top directors wouldn’t work with him after playing a comic book character. Ruffalo said he wasn’t that worried, but the actor quipped, “Well, I can name a few who won’t work with you…Paul Thomas Anderson won’t work with you.”

“I was like, ‘Oh fuck. If there’s one person I wanna work with, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson. Well, that sucks,’” he said.

So, now that he’s taking on projects that earn him Oscar nominations—Poor Things most recently—he’s distancing himself from Hulk and Marvel in general, if accidentally. But he’s proud of every role.

“I’m really proud of it. I’ve sat in movie theaters with the movies I’ve done with big directors. I’ve also experienced these Marvel movies with an audience and the amount of community and expression…it touched every single emotion. That means something to me. I don’t look down on it.”

It’s a tricky thing, dealing with this chasm between Marvel movies and more traditional dramatic films, and the debate over whether Marvel roles should be taken seriously teeters on the edge of controversial topics like gatekeeping and elitism in art.

But, frankly: does anyone even want a Hulk movie? I think we’re good.