Julia Louis-Dreyfus Had to Wear a Disguise to Marvel Set: ‘There’s So Much Secrecy’

Julia Louis-Dreyfus had to wear a hooded cloak on her way to set when she started playing her new Marvel character, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

There’s so much secrecy around it,” she said of her character in a new Variety cover story. “When I first started shooting, I had to go to set wearing a black cloak with a hood and keep my head down so nobody could see it was me walking onto the soundstage.”

Her Contessa character first appeared in 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and then made appearances again in Black Widow and last year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Contessa is a mysterious noblewoman who recruits powerful individuals.

She’ll next appear in Marvel’s Thunderbolts, which starts shooting in June. According to Variety, it will be Louis-Dreyfus’ biggest showing yet as the Contessa.

Thunderbolts tells the story of a group of villains, or at least anti-heroes, who are brought in an attempt to reform them and make them good.

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Joining Louis-Dreyfus in the Thunderbolts cast will be David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, ​​Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S.Agent, with Florence Pugh reprising her role as Yelena Belova, Marvel announced in September at D23.

Louis-Dreyfus was recruited for the Marvel Cinematic Universe during a meeting with chief creative officer Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito, Variety notes.

Just days after asking them to let her know “if anything comes up,” she got the role of the Contessa.

But she really took it in order to impress her two sons, Charlie and Henry Hall. (Yes, she’s seen the New York Magazine cover story about “nepo” babies that mentions her son Charlie — no, she hasn’t read it).

“I did this to see if I can get some respect from these people in my family,” she told Variety.

She said it was her idea to make the Contessa’s streak of hair purple instead of white, and that she also lobbied to get to do some fighting in the upcoming Thunderbolts.

“I pitched it; I told them I really want to fight. I haven’t seen the script yet — we’ll see if that happens,” she said.

Main Image: New York, NY USA – April 26, 2016: Julia Louis-Dreyfus attends Time 100 gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Courtesy of Shutterstock