I had lots of fun during my Avengers press trip last month from movie screenings and a zoo visit to cast interviews and a set visit. It was all pretty cool but my favorite part of the trip was the Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. set visit. The show is filmed on a secret set somewhere in the Los Angeles area, we couldn’t take pictures or do any social media while on location. It was pretty fitting for a set visit of a show about a secretive government agency.
Our visit started with cast interviews on set. We were literally sitting next to “The Bus” with Lola on it. In fact the back was open when we arrived and we could see some of the cast rehearsing a scene! If you missed my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D cast interview, go read it, I’ll wait. 🙂 I’ll be sharing again next week featuring our conversation with “Director Coulson” and “Agent May.”
The soundstage also houses the Quinjet, and we had our pictures taken on it! I was totally giddy watching the cast on the Quinjet in last week’s episode, “The Dirty Half Dozen.”
Our set tour included the Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. costume department. The building was full of vision boards and working closets of various cast members. Costume Designer, Ann Foley gave us the tour of her work space and explained a little about how the costume department works.
On average 30% of the costumes are custom-made in-house. They had 4 of their custom pieces on display for us.
1. They custom print the fabric used for Raina’s dresses.
“She’s probably one of my favorite characters… I really worked with the writers and we sort of went into her head, and depending on where her head was in that episode, we tried to choose that color wisely.”
2. They only had a week to make 5 versions of May’s silver sequined dress.
“We made five because Ming was fighting herself, or May was fighting herself in the episode, so we had one beautiful one for May, then we had one that she could fight in, so we sewed stretch panels inside so she could fight and do all of her movement. She had two stunt doubles and then Agent 33 was in one as well.”
3. Skye’s new tactical outfit for this season with a custom-made hood piece.
4. It’s important to use source material for inspiration of established characters in the Marvel Comic Universe, like Mockingbird.
“But at the same time, it’s about bringing them into our world and making it believable for the world of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So, it’s always a little bit of a balance.”
The last part of our visit was watching them film a scene from the season finale. They took us too another sound stage where Chloe Bennet (“Skye”) was filming with Luke Mitchell (Lincoln). The set was bustling with activity, various crew members dragging gear from one place to another. We were given headsets to hear the dialogue while we watched the monitors as they filmed.
While waiting for the filming to start, we had a chance to grab a snack craft services and speak very briefly with Chloe Bennet who was getting a wardrobe adjustment before her scene. She was super friendly but we really didn’t have any time to ask her much before we were ushered back out to watch her shoot the scene. Naturally I can’t share what I saw during the filming but I will say the dialogue we heard caused a collective gasp. Clearly it was shocking to our group! I can’t wait to see the season finale.
Tonight episode 20, SCARS airs on ABC, 9pm ET.
Skye is torn between her loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. and her connection to the Inhumans as tensions rise between the groups — and Coulson reveals a secret he’s been hiding from even those closest to him, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Don’t we look like S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents? 😉
Disney hosted me in LA while I attended the #AvengersEvent press trip which included movie screenings and interviews. As always, all opinions and experiences are my own.
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