Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: agatha all along, Marvel Studios
Agatha All Along Star Kathryn Hahn on Bare Backside Breakthrough
Agatha All Along star Kathryn Hahn and creator Jac Schaeffer on that premiere episode moment showing a "side" of Agatha we didn't expect.
It's quite a sight to behold witnessing Disney embracing its older audiences especially given how protective of its brand it's been for generations. It's not like The Mouse hasn't teased darker and more risqué content before in their earlier years of color animation, like the original cut of Fantasia (1940) or The Black Cauldron (1985). As Disney took a harder stance on being G and PG, they created other branded studios like Hollywood Pictures to cater to older audiences. With the purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2017 and the incoming content co-produced with Netflix with The Defenders superhero shows, the question was if they planned to integrate into Disney+ or shift more to the more general Hulu. We got that answer as Disney+ implemented a parental lockout feature to open more mature programming of existing material so audiences could enjoy the Deadpool films or the Charlie Cox-starred Daredevil from Marvel. With the premiere of Agatha All Along on September 18th, we hit another milestone as the Disney+ original Marvel series to feature nudity with your courtesy spoiler warning for the premiere episode.
Agatha All Along: Kathryn Hahn on "That" Scene
Nudity isn't something new in the MCU as Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bared their male asses in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), respectively. Hahn, who plays Agatha Harkness in the Disney+ series, is the first MCU woman to let her ass breathe. The scene in question is when Agatha finally comes out of the spell Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) put her under in the WandaVision finale. As we first saw the character, she was stuck in a Mare of Easttown-type of series where Detective "Agnes" is a grizzled detective trying to solve the murder of Jane Doe.
As the pieces fall together, Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), who was assigned to work with "Agnes," helps trigger the latent memories that would restore Agatha's memories with the help of the mysterious Teen (Joe Locke). Coming out of her spell, she regains consciousness in her home and walks out in broad daylight naked with her long hair strategically covering her breasts, confronting her neighbor John (David A Payton) to orient her on how long she's been out. After getting what little information she could, she walks back into the house with a brief shot of her backside. It turns out that it WAS Agatha all along.
"Well, I came up with it," Hahn told Variety. "I thought it was good to see her as stripped down, literally, as we possibly could, which spoke into her powerlessness at the present moment. She's been stripped of all of her power at this point in the series. I mean, she really had nothing at that point, and so it became about illustrating that gap between that moment and her finding her power again."
Creator Jac Schaeffer revealed the moment wasn't scripted as Hahn was supposed to grab something to cover up. "Kathryn was like, 'Would she grab the robe? I don't feel like she would grab the robe. I feel like she would really not care about being naked in front of the neighbors,'" she said. "I told her, 'That is the greatest idea I've ever heard.' Kathryn has done so much work, and she's done a lot of nudity and other things, and so it also felt very subversive to get Kathryn Hahn's nudity into the MCU." After storming back in to plan her next move, "It is so true to her character, and it makes me laugh out loud," she added. "And also, I mean, she looks incredible."
For more on how the scene was blocked and shot, you can check out the entire interview. Agatha All Along, which also stars Ali Ahn, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Maria Dizzia, Debra Jo Rupp, Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Okwui Okpokwasilistreams Wednesdays on Disney+.