Marvel meets 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' with Rachel Brosnahan - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Watch Rachel Brosnahan transform into ‘Marvel’s Mrs. Maisel’

Share via

Rachel Brosnahan put the “Marvel” in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” on Tuesday night during a visit to “The Late Late Show With James Corden.”

The host and his guest teamed up to “take the biggest thing in television — Mrs. Maisel — and combine it with the biggest thing in film,” a.k.a. the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And the result was a hilarious hodgepodge of crime fighting, suntanning and shameless puns.

“At first I was skeptical,” Brosnahan says in a mockumentary-style clip exploring the making of “The Marvel’s Mrs. Maisel.” “Then he explained the similarities Mrs. Maisel has with superheroes.”

Advertisement

“They both speak truth to power; they both have memorable catchphrases,” Corden, the director, added. “And they both have daddy issues.”

The hybrid comic-book flick opens with an infamous scene from “Avengers: Infinity War,” in which the nefarious, all-powerful Thanos finally secures all six infinity stones, taking his place as the most fearsome being in the universe.

Except, in this version, he’s forced to pause before achieving total domination, so that Brosnahan’s Midge can examine the villain’s shiny, rainbow-colored jewels.

Advertisement

“Va va voom — look at those rocks!” she exclaims in her trademark nasal tone. “How many carats?”

“You know, I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know,” Thanos replies in an uncharacteristic New York accent. “I got it on 46th Street so long ago. I never got it appraised.”

Also heavily featured in the clip is Corden, who assumes the role of the hot-tempered, egotistical auteur, calling cut every handful of seconds to offer some exasperated notes.

Advertisement

“This film is my follow-up to ‘Cats’!” he barks, in a subtle self-dig at his recent role in the box office and critical catastrophe. “I have a reputation to uphold!”

In a series of side interviews, Brosnahan and Corden worked through their creative differences, discussing the challenge of balancing two successful but completely different franchises and living up to the project’s “mildly clever, convoluted pun” of a title.

“We had to scrap half a day of production because Mrs. Maisel kept asking Thor if his hammer was circumcised,” Corden says. “But I’m sure the rest of the shoot will go smoother.”

But it was game over when a summer-ready Midge decided to repurpose Captain America’s shield as a tanning reflector board.

“It’s an action movie!” shouts a frustrated Corden. “You use it to defend yourself!”

“I am defending myself,” Brosnahan replies, nonchalantly sipping iced tea, “against pasty, blotchy skin.”

Jokes aside, Brosnahan’s critically acclaimed lead performance as the spunky, feminist comedian just earned her a SAG Award nomination for actress in a comedy. She’ll be competing against Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”), Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) and her “Maisel” costar Alex Borstein at the ceremony on Sunday.

Advertisement

The fourth season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is set to premiere on Amazon sometime this year.

Advertisement