‘She-Hulk’ Actor Rhys Cairo Practiced Magic Tricks Before Making His Episode 4 Appearance
Episode 4 of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law introduced viewers to Donny Blaze (Rhys Cairo), a magician who improperly utilizes the mystic arts. While the mystic arts are impossible to achieve, Cairo did practice practical magic before making his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Who is Donny Blaze in episode 4 of ‘She-Hulk’?
She-Hulk Episode 4 focused on two plots. The first revolved around Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) trying to improve her dating life, while the second centered around Wong’s (Benedict Wong) legal troubles. Donny Blaze (a pun of Ghost Rider’s alter ego, Johnny Blaze) is a former student of the mystic arts who uses what he learned to achieve success as a magician.
However, his mistreatment of sorcerer magic attracts Wong’s attention, who hires She-Hulk as his lawyer and issues Donny a cease and desist. Donny doesn’t stop using the mystic arts, which leads to an invasion of winged demons from another universe. Fortunately, She-Hulk and Wong solve the problem, so Donny will have to rely on magic tricks for now.
Rhys Cairo practiced magic tricks before making his ‘She-Hulk’ debut
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cairo detailed his preparation for portraying Donny Blaze. The actor says he wanted everything he did that was practical to look real. Cairo worked with the Marvel stunt team to learn many of the tricks he performs in episode 4 of She-Hulk.
“There was a lot of practical sleight-of-hand magic that took place. I really wanted there to be as much as possible,” Cairo explains. “I think that the juxtaposition of the actual Kamar-Taj mystic arts with the sleight-of-hand magic is great. In the script, it says, “He does a magic show,” you know? So, we had time with the amazing, world-class Marvel stunt team who have their own building, like their own little laboratory, where they’re crafting these moments. We got to get in there with them and work on all these things, and sort of craft the magical acts. We put together that floating sequence. And the studying of magic was really fun for me. It’s so interesting how it’s a subdiscipline of performing. There’s magic and clowning and stunt performing, and it’s fun to explore these other areas of performing and how they all interrelate.”
The tricks he pulls off aren’t too complex but magic does take a lot of dedication in order to pull off many sleight-of-hand tricks. In a world where real sorcerers exist, it’s nice to see that magicians are still perfecting their craft.
Cairo watched every MCU movie to prepare for ‘She-Hulk’
Rhy Cairo is married to Kat Cairo, a director for She-Hulk. After being hired to direct the series, Rhys recalls he and Kat both watched every MCU project in chronological order.
“Part of Kat’s preparation [to direct the show] was to watch all of Marvel in chronological story order,” Cairo said. “It was very interesting to watch them in that way. We all did that together, and it’s really amazing how cohesive the whole thing is.”
Episode 4 of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is now streaming on Disney+.
