Last month, I had the chance to visit the set of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and interview the cast. I already posted my interview with Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons and Adrianne Palicki and now I’m excited to share about my experience visiting the set of Agents of SHIELD, watching a scene being filmed, meeting Chloe Bennet {Skye] and talking with Costume Designer Ann Foley!
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of my favorite shows so when we walked in the door and immediately saw the Quinjet and Lola, I immediately started freaking out on the inside. We sat down right next to it and that is where we did our cast interviews – Ming-Na Wen {Agent Melinda May} even tweeted a picture out of us {see Lola on the right?!}!
Gr8 having all u awesome mommy & daddy bloggers visit #AgentsofSHIELD! So jealous u saw MELINDA ep & Ultron! #lucky 😘 pic.twitter.com/0rp3bE8eng
— Ming-Na Wen (@MingNa) April 11, 2015
We were able to tour the set and after getting pictures at Coulson’s desk {picture coming soon!}, we climbed aboard the Quinjet!
So many scenes were filmed in the Quinjet and it was surreal to be sitting in the chairs. Everything was so incredibly detailed right down to the S.H.I.E.L.D. logos on the chairs.
After stepping off the Quinjet, we had a chance to explore the lab that Fitz and Simmons work in, the living room and kitchen where they hang out and the bunker that Ward and others have been kept.
As we walked through the set, they told us we would have a chance to watch a scene be filmed. There’s a lot of waiting around, so we stood there talking quietly and eating some snacks. Then, someone grabbed us and said they had a surprise for us – it was Chloe Bennet and Luke Mitchell, who play Skye and Lincoln! They were sitting in chairs in a hallway, waiting to film a scene so we only had a chance to ask some quick questions – it was literally only a few minutes!
If you’ve seen the Melinda episode, you see where Skye creates an avalanche and also makes music with water in glasses. For fun, I asked her which was cooler and she shared with us about the scene creating the avalanche and how there was an actual gust of wind that took her by surprise and how they create all the magic post. It was fun talking with them for a bit but then we had to go because they had to start filming their scene!
We were able to put on headphones so we could watch the scene being set up on a monitor. After the crew got everything perfect, we then got to see Chloe Bennet {Skye] get warmed up for her scene. In the scene, she had to be out of breath and she did a lot of jumping and running in place to get prepared. It was fun to watch them film the scene several times, trying to get it perfect. We also heard a major spoiler as we watch the scene from the season finale being filmed and there was a collective gasp among us. But no spoilers from me – you’ll just have to wait and watch!
On Set with Costume Designer Ann Foley
I always loving learning more about the costumes of a television show or movie. We had the chance to talk with Ann Foley, who is the costume designer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As we walked through her space, we saw she had vision boards for each character {Ward’s vision board included pictures of David Beckham!} and then there were the clothes! SO much clothes!
Ann shared with us what a closet was saying,
The working closet is where I pull their clothes for each episode. So what we do is I have a little closet that I use for all my fittings, for each and every episode. And in my vision board over there, these are ideas that I had at the beginning of last season 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.
Talking about her vision boards for each character, Ann said,
It was really fun, and a lot of this stuff was inspiration for season one. I have a few things up there for season two, and as most of you guys know, there was a big progression in the cast from season one towards the end and the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., we went a little darker and everybody grew up. So season two, it was a little darker. It was a little edgier. It was actually fun, it was kind of a nice change.
Ann then walked us through the rest of her space, sharing,
So over here, along this wall, what we have are everybody’s permanent closets, so a lot of this is the stuff, the clothes from last season and some things from the current season that have already been shot. Here’s Mockingbird, her coats from the first time we met her. Which was a fabulous, custom-made piece that we did. But there she is. Hunter is in here as well, and his fabulous leather jackets that he’s been wearing. Then on the other side, I have all the stock that we use to dress the background. It’s just like a permanent working stock, budget suits for my S.H.I.E.L.D. agents…
Talking about the costumes in the picture above, Ann said,
This is where we build a lot of the costumes on the show and of the costumes up on mannequins that we’ve made here in-house, one being Raina, the girl in the flower dress. She’s probably one of my favorite characters. We actually print that fabric and then we make each one of our dresses. What we did with her is 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.
They’re all 100 percent custom made and that’s special to our show. That’s Ming’s silver sequin dress, which I think you guys remember from earlier in the season, that we made that in-house, too, which was so much fun. It was so much fun putting her in that. We had about a week to make five of those dresses. Those tiny sequins that you see on there, we were finding those sequins all over studio. They were everywhere.
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, 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. Yeah, so that was a lot. We have Skye’s new tactical outfit for this season and the hood piece up there is her custom made.
Then of course Mockingbird, which I think you guys have all seen her. So that’s probably, again, that’s another one of my favorites this season as well. Of course, here’s some illustrations that we have. My fabulous illustrator, Phillip Boutte, who I’ve been working with on both seasons and here’s the latest and the greatest, which is our friend Deathlok, who you guys saw on Tuesday night. And I wish I could have put him up, but he is not available to be put up yet.
If you’ve been watching Agents of SHIELD, you know that Raina has undergone some changes. Ann shared with us about Raina’s new wardrobe,
What we did was we made this really beautiful hooded piece ’cause she needs a hood for her protection, even if it’s an emotional protection, so to speak. You know, it just felt right. I found this really beautiful, it’s a lace, it’s an Asian-inspired lace and we put red silk underneath it so that you could see the red coming through the flowers that are in the lace. So she still keeps her flowers. It’s very subtle. Hopefully you’ll be able to see it, but it’s just a character thing.
For an established comic book characters like Mockingbird and Deathlok, we asked Ann how much inspiration comes from the comic book and how much comes from her own inspiration?
Well, a bunch. I mean, I always go to the source material, because I think it’s important. I mean, these are established characters in the MCU and I want to respect that. 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.
We all know how important it is to not have spoilers leak from Marvel movies and shows. We asked Ann about the lead time she gets for certain costumes and how she creates them so the characters are able to perform their stunts.
Mockingbird, I got about two months, same with Deathlok. Ming in the silver dress, eh, about 10 days.
That’s one of the most important things to me in the show, is I always take the actors considerations into account when we’re building. They have to be able to do their stunts. They have to be able to fight. They have to be able to move really freely, do high kicks. With the dress, the challenge was making sure Ming could punch, so she could move so that nothing would pull here, and she could flip over a table. You don’t ever want the costume to get in the way.
And even with Deathlok, his costume is made out of, the base of it is stretch, like a four-way stretch, very similar to what Mockingbird’s is made out of. So it’s a four-way stretch, and I print on top of it. It’s an ink, so the costume still moves with the actor, and that’s super, super, super important.
We all know Coulson is so identified by his suit. We asked Ann how hard it was to dress him when he’s not in his suit.
That’s very true. That’s the fun part too, because Coulson is always in a suit, so when I get to get him out of the suit, it’s funny because Twitter loves it. They love seeing Coulson under cover. I think that’s probably one of the most fun things for me, when I get those episodes and everyone’s under cover. I only had a short lead time on that dress, but it’s so much fun. Sometimes it makes me laugh. Last season, when Coulson and May went undercover as Fitzsimmons, I mean, probably the best fittings I’ve ever had in my life because Elizabeth has a very specific way of standing in her fittings, and Ming did that in the fitting photos for the cast. You could hear her laughing across the studio. It was wonderful. It was really fun.
If you’ve ever wondered exactly what a shopper on the set of a television show does, Ann shares,
To shop, shop all day long. It’s great, because we know the characters now, and I think the bigger challenge was at the end of last season and starting, and this season when we started going darker and edgier, was trying to find that idea of all of the characters. For example Elizabeth Simmons, to me is probably one of the more challenging characters to shop for on the show because she is eclectic.
So it will be one piece from this store, one piece from that store, you know, and, and it’s just about styling her and bringing her together without any of them getting, going over the top, ’cause the challenge for me, I guess, going back to your original question is keeping it believable, keeping it real, and not having it be over the top. And, you know, people getting distracted by what the cast is wearing.
It was so much fun learning more about the costumes on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! You can follow Ann on Twitter at @AFoley24.
Are you ready for tonight’s episode? It’s another can’t miss episode and if you’ve already seen Avengers; Age of Ultron, it’s ALL CONNECTED!
In tonight’s episode SCARS, 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.
Make sure to tune into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tonight at 9pm EST!
Check back next week when I’ll be sharing my interview with Clark Gregg (“Phil Coulson”), Ming-Na Wen (“Melinda May”), Co-Creator & Executive Producer Jed Whedon and Executive Producer Jeff Bell.
Disclosure: Disney provided an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
nicole dziedzic says
The costume design in the movies is always my favorite to see, especially in the action movies. Very interesting to see how it all comes together.
Julie Wood says
ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is one of my all time favorite shows, and I am so excited to see how this show is made and what the characters go through! So interesting!
Sarah L says
What an incredible visit. I like learning about the costumes and seeing the sets.