Last month, while I was in L.A for the #AvengersEvent press junket, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. Seriously, interviewing the talent from Avengers: Age of Ultron was beyond amazing. However, the day before Age of Ultron interviews happened, we were given an exclusive and top secret tour of the actual filming set of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trust me when I say this, the tour was top secret! While at the set, we got to interview Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”), Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”), Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”), Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”), which you can read all about it in our Interview with the casts of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #ABCTVEvent post here. If those interviews were beyond amazing, you can only imagine how thrilling the set tour was. For three plus hours, we were given exclusive behind the scenes look at many of the key components behind this fantastic show. As you can remember from our previous post, during the time at the set, we weren’t allow to take pictures or update social media; therefore, today’s images are courtesy of ABC and are just a small look into what we experienced that day.
As we entered the set, we were greeted by LOLA sitting on her ramp, which by the way, the ramp’s door closes and opens to allow a more realistic feel. After the interviews, we got to visit Coulson’s office and the best part was that we got to sit on his chair by his desk (Pics coming on our next post, hopefully)! Amazing, right? Well, the next stop was the Quinjet, were we got to strap ourselves into the jump seats and take a closer look inside the jet. Before continuing with the tour set, we stopped by the costume & wardrobe department to chat with Ann Foley, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s costume department head.
While at the costume & wardrobe department, we saw Ann’s vision boards up on the walls and cast’s working closets. Ann had to say this about her vision boards and the cast’s working closet:
The working closet is where I pull their clothes for each episode. What we do is I have a little closet that I use for all my fittings, for each and every episode. My vision board, these are ideas that I had at the beginning of last season that that I used to show the producers and even the cast of where we were going with each one of them, so that we could create six really strong identifiable characters.
We also got to take a closer look at Raina (the girl in the flower dress), Ming’s silver sequin dress, Skye’s new tactical outfit and Morse/Mockingbird’s jumpsuit. One fun trivia fact is that Ann had to make five different silver sequin dresses for Ming’s scenes and this is why:
We made five because Ming (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. That was a lot.
When you are watching a show of this magnitude, you certainly never stop to think about what goes into making the outfit and wardrobe look so impressive and impeccable.
After Ann Foley’s gracious time showing us around the costume and wardrobe department we continued with the set tour. We stopped by the lap and the S.S.R on the base (pictured above). At the lab we got to see all the props and yes they are as realistic as you see them on TV. All the petri dishes, measuring flask & beakers are all real, I seriously wanted to pick them up, even though we weren’t allowed. 🙂
Continuing with our tour of the set, we made a pit stop by the S.S.R Base Set Rec Room, were we learned that the cast often hangs out. I would too, trust me! There are comfy sofas, table, kitchenette and games. Awesome way to unwind and relax between takes.
The treat of the day came right after, were we learned, that we will be seeing a live scene being shot. As you can imagine, been on an actual film set, there are many opportunities to see other part of the sets between scenes. While awaiting for the scene set up to be ready, we got to see the “pit” isolation room. The room is quite dark and isolated indeed, I am sure that it has to be this way to make the feeling of it come through on TV.
Right before, it was announced that the scene was almost ready, we got to meet Chloe Bennet (“Skye”) and Luke Mitchell (“Lincoln”), while they were getting ready to shot their scene from the season finale. We got to say hello and spend a few minutes with them, then we were whisked away to our places to see how a live scene is filmed. All I can see is that it was an amazing experience, I wish I can say more, but I can’t.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Scars” – airs MAY 5 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on ABC Television Network
Tonight episode is entitled: ”Scars” and was written by Rafe Judkins & Lauren LeFranc and directed by Bobby Roth. “Scars” episode is about 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.
“Scars” guest stars Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Ruth Negga as Raina, Patton Oswalt as Sam/Billy Koenig, Kyle Maclachlan as Cal, Edward James Olmos as Robert Gonzales, 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, Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha, David Douglas as Michael and Crystal Coney as scientist.
Disclosure: I was be provided with an all expense paid trip to L.A to facilitate the review of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, Monkey Kingdom, & Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. No additional compensation was received.