I received the following information as a blogger via Walt Disney Publications. While I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to the press events for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Monkey Kingdom, and Agents of SHIELD, all opinions are 100% my own. Photos included in this post provided by ABC.
Last month I posted here on the blog that I was lucky enough to visit the set of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Hopefully by now you’ve read about my chat with the show’s talent Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”), Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”), Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”), Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”). I also posted about my quick chat with Chloe Bennet (“Skye”) and the tour of the costume department with costume designer Anne Foley.
Today I’m sharing with you the last installment of my set visit! This will include our chat with Clark Gregg (“Agent Coulson”) and Ming-Na Wen (“Agent May”), as well as a chat with Executive Producers and show runners Jed Whedon and Jeff Bell. Oh but first thing’s first… guess who sat at the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s desk?
Original photo provided by ABC. Edits by me.
Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen
First let me say that Ming-Na Wen is NOTHING like her character! She is so fun and bubbly, just super friendly. It was really exciting to interview her and Clark Gregg together. They truly do have great chemistry that is apparent off-screen as well. You can tell they are truly good friends. Before the interview we had screen episode 17 “Melinda”, prior to its air date. Aspects of this episode were discussed in the interview.
Have you seen the new Avengers?
Clark: Nope.
Ming: No.
Clark: Oh, man, this thing… (To Ming) What are you doing?
Ming: I’m taking pictures of the bloggers. Let them be in front of the camera.
She tweeted the photo!
Clark: (To Ming) You saw Avengers.
Ming: The first movie, yeah.
But not the new one?
Clark: I still didn’t even see the part after I got killed in the first one because…
Ming: (Jokingly) Too emotional?
Clark: I was– frankly, I was too sad.
Ming: Way too emotional.
Clark: I haven’t seen it (referring to Age of Ultron). The lock down is so secure. I’m really excited because I’m going to go see it with my pal here, (Motioning to Ming) Monday night.
We mention we saw it the previous night. Ming asked us what happened while Clark asked if he was in it. No we did not give away spoilers! Ming joked that she thinks Agent Coulson makes an appearance but Clark isn’t telling anyone.
Original photo provided by ABC/Adam Taylor. Edits by me.
How much information did they give you in the very beginning (of the show)?
Ming: They gave me the name of my character and that I was an agent of SHIELD and that she left the field for a reason. That’s about it. Really I didn’t get very much.
Clark: The first scene where we meet you, even though it is me going to find her, where she’s behind stacks of boxes and paperwork having checked herself out of SHIELD. We only gradually come to learn that she’s got this reputation…
Ming: As the Cavalry.
Clark: As the Cavalry and that she’s a legendary warrior who quit and pushed away from the table because of a traumatic experience.
Ming: … and I used my thing as an actor not wanting… just “I’m quitting”. That’s– that’s what I draw from.
Clark: A friend of mine gave me a Monopoly card that says get out of show business free. Just when you’ve had enough of the abuse.
Ming: Yeah, that’s right just box yourself in…
Clark: It was referenced a number of times. There was little hints of it in different episodes of what had happened. Eventually some pieces got filtered in that is this involved a powered person and deeply scarring stuff, which I always really liked. It’s where the show kind of veers into something topical, the concept of people who do defend other people militarily, the scars they carry in PTSD. It’s only been little hints. So we were kind of excited, three days before we started shooting when we found out this was gonna be the reveal.
Ming: Right because we’ve heard a lot about Bahrain. And you know, there were always references to it. But the details of it wasn’t really known until the episode. Or maybe a couple of episodes before there were some hints about that storyline but nothing very specific. So a lot of times for us when we’re acting it’s almost as we’re the audience member because we’re discovering it the way an audience member would discover it watching the show. They don’t tell us anything.
Clark: They tell me some stuff.
Ming: That’s because you’re the Director. You’re Coulson!
Original photo provided by ABC. Edits by me.
What has been one of the most emotional scenes to shoot?
Clark: In Season 1, episode 11, I think it was… I think it was called A Magical Place or Tahiti. It was when Coulson was put in the memory machine by Raina, and the people we did not yet know were Hydra. (He’s) kind of forced to confront the fact that he had been dead, and that he’d been through this tremendously excruciating experience. Also all the stuff about the cellist and kind of the things he had lost. That part of the journey of someone who’d been a kind of no questions asked company man, realizing that he too had been lied to by all kinds of people.
Ming: Mm-hmm. I think–
Clark: Like you. That was pretty painful.
Ming: Yeah. Well, you’ve lied to me a lot obviously. I think for me there was this episode about this kind of ghostly figure that May had to fight with. It really brought back her own personal issues about having to let go. So it had a reference to Bahrain, and I think that particular episode, she was struggling with various things of just not wanting to engage but having to, and to take care of a situation and allow herself to… I think the other scene was when Skye was…
Clark: When Skye was shot. It’s the family. This is a show about a family.
Ming: Yeah, that was a big one.
Original photo provided by ABC. Edits by me.
Clark: People who don’t get to have real families because they work too hard. I suspect you know what that’s about. How they become a family… At times when the bonds, the trust is questioned when people are hurt, we lose people on this show. We lost B.J. Britt (“Antoine Triplett”) And most of us are still recovering. You know, even some of the bad guys, we love them so much off screen. It’s a really fun. This is a really good set. This is a really good one. We kind of have fun, and we take care of each other. And when we have to say goodbye to people it really is painful. And a lot of times you feel it in the scenes. It’s just dark around here for a little while. We loved B.J. so much. He was such a kind of discovery and such a buoyant person. I think we had five different goodbye parties just to keep him coming back around.
What are your stunts versus stunt performers?
Ming: It’s a very collaborative, between our stunt coordinator a lot of people who do like rigging and special effects, and wire work, as well as my stunt doubles. I have like sometimes two or three depending on their levels of skills of what they can do. It’s always an intense but really fun process. I learn the entire choreography of every single fight scene. And the only thing that I don’t do are the more dangerous things where it’s the wire works. You know, you’re being pulled across a room or you have to smash into a wall.
Original photo provided by ABC. Edits by me.
Clark: She’s pretty remarkable. She and I both… I think we can divulge that we crossed a number with a five in it. It’s a huge motivator to stay in (shape). (To Ming) Is that a secret?
Ming: No between the two of us… yeah, a century plus! Wow.
Clark: I guess I wasn’t prepared for that party.
Ming: I know. Doesn’t it sound worse that way?
Clark: We both really love that part of it. She gets to do a bit more of it. I’m always fighting for a little bit more. It gives us an excuse, you know, when you really have worked late the night before and you don’t want to go to the gym. You remember that at any moment you’re gonna be thrown into one of these fights. You’re going to not want to have them pull you out because you can’t do it. We have amazing doubles who really kind of make us look good in the moments where it gets too dangerous. I mean I’ve seen people doubling me get carted off a couple times this year. It’s for real.
Matt Mullen and Eric Norris (trainers), they really do an amazing job of kind of tailoring the fights to stuff that I do. They know that I practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a workout. And every once in a while they’ll let me throw in a move of that because I might have some practice at it.
Ming: I love just watching fight scenes, because the Chinese movies are all about that. So whenever we can throw little Easter Eggs in to the fight scenes that kind of give homage to very specific people like Bruce Lee, or just any of these like amazing fights that I’ve ever seen. We always try to throw those in too for fun.
Photo Credit: ABC. From Agents of SHIELD Facebook Page.
How much of your own personality goes into your character?
Ming: (Jokingly) Oh! 100%!
Clark: I mean for us it’s hilarious to watch the taciturn and lethal Melinda May and then hang out with the giggly and hilarious super sweet Ming. I mean you don’t want to mess with Ming either.
Ming: Yeah, if I’m hungry!
Ming then had to leave to head to makeup. Luckily we still had time to ask Clark a few more questions!
Do you ever get to ad lib your lines?
Clark: I have ad libbed a couple of them, but not a lot of them. My god, I’d love to claim more of them. But a lot of them are our terrific writers. From the get go, Joss in the pilot and these writers… one of the reasons I think they brought Coulson back to life is that to their surprise in a super hero movie like the first AVENGERS and the ones leading up to it there was something that the audience really connected to in the super hero world, someone who was quite vulnerable, who this was kinda their job. Like, “Oh, God, what does this guy have for a super power?” I got to have some kinda snarky lines. It’s always been something that people really responded to about Coulson. They give me some great ones. They’ve accepted the fact that at the end of most scenes where that’s appropriate I’m going to do one extra pass and throw in a couple!
Do you have an plane interior where you shoot?
Clark: It’s a great question. It’s very similar to the films only with about a tenth of the time and resources. The short answer is you see Lola, you this plane. That thing really goes up with those cars on it. That’s a practical hydraulic. And if it’s going to be coming out the back of the plane suddenly this will be surrounded by either green or blue. And the sky and the wind machines and everything, it’s a blend of practical and digital.
Mark Kolpack and his amazing team. I feel like one of the things that’s been really satisfying is to watch how he’s kind of revolutionizing what’s possible on a TV show that shoots in eight days and does 22 of them in a season, can be accomplished. There’s enough that’s really real. I’ve seen one of these (motions to set) completely filled with snow. Then it’s gone the next day. It makes our job a lot easier. Then very often we’re suddenly at some… you wouldn’t believe some of the strange underground military looking buildings are within 45 miles of here.
Photo Credit: ABC. From Agents of SHIELD Facebook Page.
Do any Avengers make cameos?
Clark: I’m always happy when those friends come to play. I’ve always felt that Coulson was kind of the crazy uncle of the Avengers. And he never likes to choose favorites. It was very nice in the 22nd episode when director Fury showed up and handed me this spectacular cube, which does a lot of grooming things that no one even knows about. When he showed up and made Coulson the director of SHIELD that was a big day.
I love whenever Maria Hill, Cobie Smulders comes to play. We’ve had Lady Sif a couple of times. Robert Downey and Jeremy Renner have been really cool online saying how much they wanted to come play. They’ve been a little busy doing this independent film that you guys saw the other night. At some point I’d love to see all of that. I have to say, for me, what was really exciting this year was people asking less that question and more “Dear Lord, how is Fitz? How is his brain? Is he okay?” I really think a lot of this credit goes to the writers and some of these actors, the way people have really kind of been concerned about Skye and Chloe Bennett and fascinated by Mockingbird and this SHIELD too. Having people like the magnificent Edward James Olmos show up. What we’re doing here is getting to bring new stuff, the inhumans into the world. And at some point, I do think the flow will become a little more porous. But I’m glad we’ve gotten room to kind of set up our own thing.
Jed Whedon and Jeff Bell
After touring around the set a bit, we then had the reprieve to chat with executive producers and show runners Jed Whedon (yes he is Joss’ brother!) and Jeff Bell.
We have the Marvel cinematic universe and the TV shows. Are you limited to what you can and can’t do?
Jed: We definitely have free reign but it does limit us in that we can’t kill Captain America like we plan to each week. No, you know, obviously there’s guidelines. They have these huge temples and we sort of move between them and there are things that are off limit to us for sure because they have either big plans for them or have already shot stuff that’s gonna use them. But in terms, we don’t feel limited by it. It’s sort of a fun puzzle for us and, you know, we get big toys to play with because of it. So, you know, it’s sort of a privilege to live in that universe and the fact that when something happens on our show it is canned. It is exists and the fact that we have to be respectful to that is also, it also means that if we do something it is canned and so that aspect of it.
But yeah it’s more of a puzzle for us and we get the privilege of seeing what’s coming down the pipeline and sort of catering our stories to move between it. I think we have more fun with it than we do.
Jeff: The only challenge really was when we first launched we knew that Hydra was the big bad guy in Captain two (The Winter Soldier) and there was one word we were not allowed to say on SHIELD. We called it the H word. So we knew that was coming and we knew we were building to that. We knew we were going to reward that way and we knew it was going to blow apart the team but it might have been helpful to have said . They’re going who are these bad guys.
If we said, “well he works for Hydra, he works for Hydra, she’s with Hydra” people would have been “oh, they’re doing Hydra, that’s cool,” but we couldn’t say that. That was really the only limit but the upside was it just exploded in our show and having the word turn like that and letting Brett do that and become that, that was awesome and then it really depends on each movie. Like Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t have much for us to tie in with.
Original photo provided by ABC. Edits by me.
Jed: And you can consider it a limitation to have a film that literally destroys the organization that your show is named after.
Jeff: Because when we first wrote it it’s like episode seventeen, do we still exist? Agents of hmm???
Jed: We took it and saw it as an opportunity. I think that us working around that and finding a way to make that our show, came up with some of the best story that we had. It generated things that we never would have thought of and put us in a tight corner that we had to ride our way out.
Aside from just the story, how has it affected your approach? With season one people didn’t really know what to expect. By season two you got people following. It’s just as essential to see the TV series as it is the movies. Do you do season two different in the way you did season one?
Jed: I think that the big advantage we have now is that people know the characters. A huge disadvantage for us was that they were original character which most Marvel properties launch with something that you are familiar with.
That was new for all of Marvel and new for the Marvel fans so I think that initially people reacted to that. They were saying okay, well I’m not seeing things I know of and this has a big Marvel flip at the top of it. But as time goes on and you get to know the characters you start to become familiar with them and, you know, Skye becoming who she became was more rewarding because you spend a year with her getting to know her and it wasn’t like the first episode. Here’s this character you’ve heard of. You had to spend some time with them but I think there was a little barrier to entry because these were new names, new faces.
Jeff: From our perspective though part of that was we’re an ABC network show. We’re not a sci-fi show. Our mandate was not just to do a show for hardcore Marvel fans. Our show was to try to make, get as many people in as possible. So it was an opportunity for a lot of people to come in, characters they didn’t know and so if you’re not a big Marvel fan you don’t know that Skye or Ward were not part of that cannon but for the diehards they’re like well if Mike Peterson isn’t Luke Cage we don’t like him. And then we go “oh, but we’re building him to Deathlock and you have to be patient to do that because we’re doing 22 episodes” and they were like “oh, that’s cool.”
Jed: So our approach hasn’t really changed. It’s just been easier. You don’t have to spend the time. Initially, you have to spend time introducing the characters and now you can just throw them into trouble. Everyone goes oh, no and they’re making their way into comics. you know, FitzSimmons are now in the comics which to us is so fun and, you know, it starts to just weave together and who knows where stuff started and where it ends.
Jeff: You saw an example but what’s happened with Ward… Ward walks in and it’s like “oh, no is he going to kill somebody or kiss them? I don’t know and I hope he does both.” It’s weird. Is it just me, is it just me?
Are there any cameos we could expect?
Jeff: How would you define cameo like Stan Lee?
I mean Stan Lee would be great but I was thinking of like Avengers?
Jed: Well, that falls in the category of questions we can’t answer. That is always a possibility. It would be cool if that happens.
Who would you like to see?
Jeff: All of them. There’s just one episode. They were all in it.
Jed: We don’t really have favorites in that department. There’s a lot. There’s fun to be had with all of them.
Describe your writing schedule.
Jeff: We start June first and the writers room broke today. Then Jed and Marissa and I will be here until the second week of May finishing the episodes and then for two weeks we go crazy and sleep. Then we come back June first should they say hey, let’s do this again. It’s 22. It’s stupid.
Jed: We’re trying to negotiate that down. Let’s do like 20 and by that I mean sixteen.
Jeff: No, it’s, it’s funny because we talk about internally like Games of Thrones was great. They did ten episodes. We’re like ten episodes? We’re just like oh, we got, we got 12 to go. We’re already tired.
Jed: Right and we start on June first and we start prepping six weeks later so we, that’s how much lead time we have so, you know, that buffer …
Jeff: There’s a train track. They say go and you start running down the train track and six weeks later they let a train behind you. All this and you try to stay ahead of that train until, until next week and you’re trying not to get run over by the train.
Jed: Also, you can plan, you can generate all the story you want but there’s always a bump in the road. You know, schedules. There’s a lot of actors. There’s rain. There’s things that you can’t anticipate that when those bumps in the road come you just have to…
Jeff: Evidently every show on TV has a Patton Oswald at least twice a week. Have you noticed this? And so us trying to get a Canning on this show it’s like getting Elijah. You set a chair, you hope he shows up and that’s it.
Jed: We’re like we’ll come to you with a camera. Just tell us where you are.
You guys have been showing a lot of back stories. Do you have a favorite?
Jed: Well we’re happy with the episode “Melinda”.
Jeff: Did you see the Cavalry story? Did you like it? Was that a good answer to the question of what happened and all that?
Of course we all replied YES!
Photo Credit: ABC. From Agents of SHIELD Facebook Page.
Jed: I mean we’ve been waiting to tell that story for a while.
Jeff: Because we know last year but part of it was when do you tell that story and how much of who she is . We want to learn that story. We didn’t want to wait too long.
Jed: We kept actually sort of slotting it in as this is a nice place but then as we were introducing the new world that Sky enters we started sort of falling in there and we were like “oh, that’s actually…”
Jeff: Honestly, one of my favorite moments of the season is when you’re watching. Okay, so this is a human story and then there’s this May flashback story and when you realize no, this one thing happened here and she says it was her daughter and the girl steps in. I still get chills but I love that moment for us and the fact that those two stories which I think hopefully felt separate came together in a surprising way.
Jed: You too? You know, it’s fun to read people saying when are we going to hear this story? We’re like we have it in our back pocket going that’s a good question actually.
Jeff: Well, the other thing we did was at the end of 16 we go we’re going to get Ward and he shows up in 17. It’s like how about a flashback story instead. So then it happens here as you can see there’s more of that. So structuring 22 and how do you keep it interesting so it doesn’t feel like the same thing every week. We started with White Hall and then Dad showed up. It’s fun to try and keep all those different threads alive over the course of 22.
Jeff : Was our cast nice to you? We have a terrific cast who are like as you see them here…
Yes the cast was very nice to us!
Jed: That’s what they’re like.
Jeff: They’re kind of like that which is awesome.
Jed: (Jokingly) Except for the one.
Jeff: (Jokingly) Yeah, yeah. I think you know who we’re talking about. We do that as writers. We go no, you’re all talented, you all did great except for and you know who you are and because they’re writers they go it’s, me.
SEASON FINALE: S.O.S.,” Part One and Part Two
Check out this teaser for tonight’s episode…
Photo Credit: (ABC/Mitchell Haaseth). Text edits by me.
THE INHUMANS’ ENDGAME IS REVEALED, ON THE TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE OF ABC’S “MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“S.O.S.,” Part One and Part Two” – S.H.I.E.L.D. puts everything on the line to survive a war that blurs the line between friend and foe. Coulson and his team will be forced to make shocking sacrifices that will leave their relationships and their world changed forever, on the two-hour season finale of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” TUESDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Clark Gregg as Director Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Agent Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse.
Guest starring on “S.O.S.,” Part One are Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Ruth Negga as Raina, Kyle Maclachlan as Cal, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Agent Weaver, Mark Allan Stewart as Agent Oliver, Maya Stojan as Kara/Agent 33, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Kyle Mattocks as Agent Harris, Ryan Powers as S.H.I.E.L.D. tech agent and Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha.
Guest starring on “S.O.S.,” Part Two are Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Kyle Maclachlan as Cal, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Agent Weaver, Mark Allan Stewart as Agent Oliver, Blair Underwood as Andrew Garner, Maya Stojan as Kara/Agent 33, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Brendan Wayne as Jiaying’s assistant, Robert Reinis as bartender, Daz Crawford as Kebo, Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha and Anthony D. Washington as TAC agent #3.
”S.O.S.,” Part One was written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Vincent Misiano. ”S.O.S.,” Part Two was written by Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Billy Gierhart.
Photo Credit: (ABC/Mitchell Haaseth). Text edits by me.
Check out this clip from tonight’s finale!
You can connect with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Want a glimpse back on my trip to Los Angeles? Be sure to check out my Twitter (@AshBG) and Instagram (@ashb4211), and look for the hashtags #AvengersEvent, #MonkeyKingdom, #LAZoo, #ABCTVEvent, and #AgentsOfSHIELD.
You look like you had a great time doing this! I would have love to interview them! I love how Ming didn’t know a lot about her character. It’s kind of fun that way! I am SOOO jealous.
I LOVE this interview. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of my favorite shows. I actually remember the Tahiti episode very well. It was a great one!
So jealous! I have just recently gotten into watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and am hooked! And I have to say Ming’s character is one of my favorites. Doesn’t every girl want to be her when they grow up?
It looks like you had an amazing time! Such a great opportunity and adventure! Lookin’ good behind that desk too!!
Sorry to have missed you on this trip! Clark Gregg seems like a great guy! And I can’t get enough Marvel!