Thunderbolts Star Wants To Beat Somebody Up
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has stated she wants to get into a fight in the Thunderbolts movie, and she pitched the fight to the producers.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is largely considered one of the greatest comedic actresses of the last few decades. After her career-defining time as Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, to her leading role as the constantly fumbling Vice President Selena Meyer on HBO’s Veep, the 62-year-old actress is a certified master of physical comedy. Now it appears as though she’d like to take her on-screen physicality to the next level, as she stated during a recent interview with Variety her intentions to engage in fights and high action during her upcoming appearance in Marvel’s Thunderbolts, stating “I pitched it; I told them I really want to fight…I haven’t seen the script yet — we’ll see if that happens.”
Perhaps Jerry Seinfeld and the staff of the West Wing alike had no idea what powers they were toiling with, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ performances in both shows often had her comedically pushing, shoving, slapping, or otherwise battering her friends and subordinates in a humorous fashion. Now, Louis-Dreyfus is ready to take her fighting skills from casual shoving to violent maiming, as she takes center stage in the upcoming MCU film Thunderbolts in the role of The Contessa, a government agent named Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
The Contessa fulfills a similar role in Marvel to that of The Suicide Squad‘s Amanda Waller in the DC universe, as a sort of amoral government agent whose talents lay in recruiting a team of comic book villains to do their bidding. Not much is known about the upcoming Thunderbolts film yet, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus is set to reprise her role as The Contessa after appearing in cameos and supporting scenes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. With many actors finding themselves in an action-packed second wind with their career-defining Marvel appearances, Julia Louis-Dreyfus seems to want in on the neck-breaking action.
Joining Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Thunderbolts are a host of reprising Marvel actors, including Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, and Sebastian Stan. William Hurt, who originally played Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross unfortunately passed away in March of 2022, leaving the role to be recast to Harrison Ford. The project is certainly shaping up to be a who’s who of Marvel alumni, and perhaps a who’s who of who’s going to be slapped senseless by The Contessa.
Finding major film success with a new generation of moviegoers has Julia Louis-Dreyfus elated, and ready to tackle a new set of challenges. Despite her many successes in television, she discussed her difficulty getting into major film roles with Variety. Amongst her dozens of IMDB credits, arguably her largest big screen role to date has been as Eva, the female lead in 2013’s Enough Said, starring alongside the late James Gandolfini in one of the Sopranos star’s final roles.
Now Julia Louis-Dreyfus is reconnecting with Enough Said director Nicole Holofcener for another leading role in her upcoming film You Hurt My Feelings. With this leading role right around the corner, and Thunderbolts expected to arrive in 2024, we may be seeing a resurgence of Julia Louis Dreyfus’ big screen career. All we can say for now is, stay out of her way!
