I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to press events for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (#ABCTVEvent, #AgentsofSHIELD), all opinions as always are 100% my own.
Do you remember the post I published a few weeks ago about me Attending The #AvengersEvent – #ABCTVEvent – #AgentsofSHIELD – #LAZoo – #Monkeykingdom In Los Angeles!? Well I actually boarded a plane (yeah first time doing that since 2004) and landed in LA in one piece, as apart of the #AvengersEvent. During my trip I was able to visit the set of Agents Of The S.H.I.E.L.D. Yeah that was awesome sauce! While on set I was able to sit down with 24 other bloggers and talk with the amazing actors of this show, as we picked their brains to know about how they feel about their characters and newest developments in the show.
Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
This was such an exciting part of my recent #AvengersEvent I was more than thankful and excited to take a group photo with these awesome actors. Being a mommy blogger is such a blessing the things my blog has allowed me to experience is very cool and I have a lot of fun sharing my experiences with you. Now on to the awesomeness!
PHOTO CREDIT to ABC
What is The Show Agents Of The S.H.I.E.L.D. About?
Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, reprising his role from “The Avengers” and the “Iron Man” movies) heads an elite team of fellow agents with the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as SHIELD, as they investigate strange occurrences around the globe and protect regular citizens from the extraordinary. Its members — each of whom brings a specialty to the group — include combat and espionage expert Grant Ward, pilot and martial artist Melinda May, engineer Leo Fitz, biochemist Jemma Simmons, and computer hacker Skye.
As the show goes on the relationships between the characters are tested by the obstacles they are put through as apart of their jobs as Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D.
Henry Simmons, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Iain De Caestecker. Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
The thing I loved best about this group of actors is they not only are down to earth people but you can see their chemistry as a team on and OFF camera. It was interesting to see how they seated themselves for the interview as one of the other bloggers pointed out as if it was a good side and bad side. This was definitely a tickler since most of us feel as though Ward Grant is semi misunderstood and see how he has good in him but has just made some tough decisions.
First up for us to interview was the oh so awesome Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”) who is the scientific engineer of the team specializing in weapons technology.
Elizabeth Henstridge, and Iain De Caestecker – Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
**By the way his accent is genuine!**
We asked Iain as far as Fitz is concerned, which of the 3 other actors’ characters can he see being repaired?
Iain quickly answered: Which of the three of these characters? Oh, I mean probably Simmons, right?
(How many of you saw that coming? I sure did! They have such great chemistry)Elizabeth : Yeah.
Brett : Anything can be solved with a cup of tea, right? <—- such cute humor between the cast!
Elizabeth : There we go! <—- she gets it!
Iain : Fitz still does have a good side, but yes probably Simmons. I mean he’s got the most history I think with Simmons and Mike. Even when they fight and stuff and they’ve fought a lot this season, quite seriously, I think. But I think there’s always…I can’t ever see them being out of each other’s lives, really.
If you have seen the show from the beginning you will learn that Fitz and Simmons attended the Academy together and actually rose to their current ranks to become S.H.I.E.L.D. certified agents and taking on their job roles with Coulson’s team TOGETHER. Setting their personal history pretty far back with moments of hints of their personal relationship coming through on a few of the episodes.
Next we spoke with Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”) who specializes in life sciences (both human and alien).
Elizabeth Henstridge – Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
At first sight of Simmons you can help but love her intellect and her witty way of coming up with solutions to the ever day problems on her job. As many have you seen in past episodes she is willing to sacrifice herself if the situation calls for it just to save the others. She is a caring, quick thinker whom is always ready to solve problems.
We asked Elizabeth (Simmons) about her and Fitz rocky relationship from their past issues on the show.
Elizabeth : We’d still like to see them come together in the episode that we’re showing on Tuesday, that they’re back to working together and they…you see that they still have that relationship where they get how each other’s thinking. Fitz knew that Simmons wasn’t just doing what she said she was doing. And she was giving him kind of coded messages through what she as doing, and him picking up the cue. So I think that there’s always…you can’t just wipe out history with someone. And these two have been together for years, so.
Next we spoke with Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”) A Hydra agent who poses as a S.H.I.E.L.D. black ops specialist.
Brett Dalton – Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
We asked Brett ( Ward Grant) if he knew he was Ultra since the beginning of the series, his response was this.
Brett : No, I didn’t know before. They let me know like the episode before and so there wasn’t a lot of a heads up on that. I appreciate the Wikipedia entry where somebody said that they let me know in the beginning of the season, so I could subtly play it every scene. I don’t know who wrote that but I was like, oh, thank you for the credit in something I did not do. But yeah it was a big change but I think it really, I don’t know rounded out the character in a way you know.
Prior to that he had kind of a mask that he was showing to the rest of the team. And then after that you get all of the back story underneath it and all of the pain and danger in there. So I don’t know I guess it really fleshed him out I’m feeling. Which made him really fun to play.
This is so true since at the beginning of the show Grant was very uptight and did not like to work in a team environment, he was very used to working alone and felt as though a team held him back. As the show continues on though Grant begins to show more of his self which he did not like where he was more compassionate and caring then he wants to lead others to believe.
Elizabeth’s (Jemma Simmons) take on finding out Brett ( Ward Grant) was Ultra
Elizabeth : We were all mortified. Yeah, right? We were shocked. And we could only speak to each other about it so we just had call up, be like, how you doin’? I don’t know, today’s hard. It was, it was tricky.
The big question: Does Ward miss his team?
Brett : Hmm. Yes. I do. Because his weakness, as Agent Garrett has always said, is that he has compassion. It’s his- it’s his…is that he is sensitive as much as he pretends that he’s not. And does things that, his actions don’t exactly…
Elizabeth: He always wants to belong, doesn’t he? Cause he didn’t as a child. Right? So you miss Mack.
Brett : It’s true. And I’m glad that we’re getting this out. I think this is- this has been really good so far.
Elizabeth: For everyone.
Brett: Really good for me. Good. <—I love their humor lol
Next we spoke with Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) was previously a technician for S.H.I.E.L.D. which Coulson discovered he was still loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., subsequently offering him a place in his revamped organization
Henry Simmons – Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
We asked Henry: How hard was it to keep a straight face when you are playing an alien when you go into the temple in that scene? How hard was it to play that part?
Henry: You know what, it was pretty easy because there was so much choreography that had to be done in terms of fight scenes, the bombing and all that kind of stuff. That it was pretty easy to stay in there and keep focused. Because the thing is too, when, especially when we do stunts we’re moving fast and it’s one o’clock. We gotta get things done. So you really have to… You know, I mean it’s fun. But I mean it was a lot of fun, actually. I actually liked that whole possessed character. It was great. It was easy to stay in…
We asked the actors which episode was their favorite, Henry replied saying this:
Henry: The one that stands out is the first scene I had with you Ian, the very first I really liked that scene. Just because the way it was written, Not when we met, but when we were in the lab and, you were talking to me..
Iain : Come here! Oh yeah, that’s one of my fav- yeah, actually that might be my favorite. I can tell you what my favorite part of the show is.
Elizabeth : What?
Iain : Henry’s arms. His whole, in fact, his whole body. His arm is bigger than my head, right?
Iain is too funny he had the whole cast and team of bloggers laughing
Last but not least was Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”) who spent time undercover within Hydra.
Adrianne Palicki- Photo Credit ABC/Adam Taylor.
We asked a highly sought after question – Do you do your own stunts?
Adrianne:I did learn Jujitsu for [the film] John Wick so I did a lot of that, I take Muay Thai and box myself. I’ve been doing a lot of action shows, movies, for a very long time, so I’ve been very lucky to be trained by Navy SEALS and whatnot as I’ve gone through and gun training and now it was the batons, I had never worked with those before, so that was my new form of training for this. Which has been and again, super awesome.
Do you think your character and you in real life have anything in common?
Adrianne: Well I don’t walk around kicking people’s asses even though I’d like to sometimes. That’s the thing I love about Bobbi is she’s a real human being and she has real feelings. She’s a soldier; she wants to do everything right, but she does have emotion. She is a female. She’s a strong female, but she’s still vulnerable. Any of those elements, I definitely understand. You know what I mean, she’s just trying to find—constantly as we all do as humans—trying to find the right path, and navigate it. So I kind of I see that with her.
It was great talking with all the cast! I hope all of you were able to learn some amazing information about the cast as I feel like I got to know the characters and the actors on a more personal level.
Photo Credit: From L-R: CLARK GREGG, BRETT DALTON (ABC/Kelsey McNeal)
GRANT WARD MAY BE COULSON’S LAST HOPE, ON “MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.” ON ABC
Sneak Peak MAKE SURE YOU TUNE IN TONIGHT!
“The Frenemy of My Enemy” – A dangerous new alliance is formed as Coulson and Hunter turn to the last person anyone would expect – Grant Ward! As the war between S.H.I.E.L.D. factions continues, Skye and Lincoln will find themselves drawn into this conflict, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,”
TUESDAY, APRIL 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as 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 are Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Henry Goodman as Dr. List, Kyle MacLachlan as Cal, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Maya Stojan as Kara, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Kris Lemche as Ethan, Staci Roberts as Paula, and Trenton Rostedt as Hoodie Guy.
”The Frenemy of My Enemy” was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and directed by Karen Gaviola.
Photo Credit: From L-R: BRETT DALTON, MAYA STOJAN, J. AUGUST RICHARDS, CLARK GREGG (photo credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal)
Ana @ Miami Mommy Savings says
WOW, I love your post, super detailed. Thank you for sharing your super (agent) experiences with us! 🙂
Ray says
Thanks for the insightful article!
Loved your interview questions that lead the actors to revealing more about the movie. Also revealing great behind the scenes information about actors and the team.
Definitely a show I may tune in for and pull a marathon to watch!
Thanks again ????!