Lou Ferrigno, actor

I grew up in a tough Brooklyn neighbourhood. I had 80% hearing loss, due to an ear infection I picked up just after I was born, as well as a severe speech impediment. I had to wear a hearing aid and rely heavily on lip-reading. Kids called me “Deaf Louis” and I became extremely introverted. Comic books such as Superman and The Hulk helped me escape. They gave me the sense of wellbeing I needed. My father rejected me because I was not the perfect son, so I fantasised about being like The Hulk and that’s what led to bodybuilding.

I got a part in Pumping Iron with Arnold Schwarzenegger but I’d never acted before. I moved to California and was training for the 1977 Mr Olympia bodybuilding contest when I got an audition for The Incredible Hulk. They’d started filming the pilot episode with Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in the James Bond movies, but a kid on the set said he wasn’t right and he needed to have big muscles like in the comics. I went for the screen test, got painted green and was asked to show emotion. That came naturally – I knew how Hulk felt – and I got hired.

I was the first on set and the last to leave. The contact lenses I had to wear had a hard white shell that numbed the eyeball. I’d take them out immediately after a scene so my eyes didn’t get infected. Makeup took about three and a half hours. They applied four coats of paint and I’d stand there in green underwear, arms out in crucifixion pose. If the weather was hot, I had to sit in a bathrobe in my motorhome with the air conditioning on. It was very uncomfortable – but when I glanced in the mirror, I thought I looked beautiful.

The show was an overnight success and gave me incredible fame. David Banner, The Hulk’s human alter ego, encountered a different obstacle every week and that’s why people related to him. They could see he was running from something and we all have those feelings. Every one of us has a little Hulk inside.

Kenny Johnson, producer

I trained in classical theatre but had movies in my head. I moved to California, produced The Six Million Dollar Man and created The Bionic Woman. Suddenly I was on staff at Universal, the youngest director on the lot. Frank Price, the boss, called me up to his office and said: “We’ve acquired the rights to five Marvel comic superheroes. Which one do you want?” I thought: “None of them!” I just didn’t identify with spandex and primary colours.

That night, I sat at home trying to figure out how to politely say no. I was reading Les Misérables and had its hero Jean Valjean and the whole fugitive concept in my head. I wondered if I could take a bit of Victor Hugo, Jekyll and Hyde and this ludicrous thing called The Hulk and turn it into a psychological adult drama about a man with hubris, who brings the curse down upon himself in the classic Greek tradition, then has to live with the consequences.

I wrote the pilot in seven days. When I sent Marvel co-creator Stan Lee the script, he pointed out the lead character was actually called Bruce Banner. But I had wanted to get away from the Peter Parkers, Lois Lanes and Lex Luthors , with a name that didn’t smack of comic bookery. So I made him David Bruce Banner. I also wanted The Hulk to be red. I asked Stan: “Why is he green? Is he the envious Hulk? The jealous Hulk? The colour of rage is red!” I got nowhere.

The pilot started with the line: “Within each of us, ofttimes, there dwells a mighty and raging fury.” I wanted to set a tone. Banner’s quest was to find self-control and not be terrorised by demons. With him it was anger – but it might be obsession, greed, sexuality, drugs. I also gave Banner piercing white eyes like The Hulk’s when he’d been triggered, so the audience knew we were at the point of no return. When we were filming the pilot, Bill Bixby, who played Banner, came back from makeup wearing the contact lenses. I said out loud: “Holy shit! This show is a hit.”

• Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres on Disney+ worldwide in August.