Mark Ruffalo talks about channeling the Hulk for The Avengers

Ruffalo: I actually start the day [Sympathy For Delicious] opens.

EW: What preparations have you been doing up until now?

Ruffalo: I’ve been working with [director/co-writer] Joss Whedon quite a bit on developing it, my portion of it. I’ll be working with Robert Downey, and I’m already doing the motion capture stuff. I’m excited.

EW: So you are performing both parts of the Hulk, the human and the digital monster?

Ruffalo: Yeah, I’m the first actor to do both. It’s really cool. I was surprised by how well my theater training played into the motion capture thing, because it’s all your imagination. When he moves across the ground, I want him using all fours, using his arms as much as his legs to move from here to there. I’d like to capture some of the primitive aspect of him.

EW: Do you see him as a kind of hunched, gorilla-type?

Ruffalo: Not so much hunched, but the low center of gravity, and the flailing of the arms sometimes.

EW: I assume you’ve seen concept art of how he’ll turn out. What does he look like?

Ruffalo: He looks just like me, but bloated and green. And big! He looks like me 40 pounds ago. [Laughs]

EW: You are luckiest of The Avengers. You could hang out and eat ice cream all day, while they all have to pump iron to stay muscular.