CHICAGO, Ill. -- During Wizard World Chicago two amazing women of Marvel came together to meet fans and answer questions. Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays Jemma Simmons on AGENTS OF SHIELD and Cobie Smulders, who plays Maria Hill, were brought together with host Victor Dandridge.
When AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR came up, Smulders gave the same answer Paul Bettany did during his panel. She jokingly said if she spoiled anything she would be shot. Instead, she was asked if her kids have seen her kickass characters in films. Smulders said she isn’t cool in her daughters eyes yet, but “It is a new sort of territory that I’m navigating... I am excited to be doing Mariah Hill. It’s really cool to play these women, these badass women, and raising these two girls so that when they are old enough to watch it, they will hopefully be excited and hopefully be inspired in some way.”
Later, host Dandridge comments that Simmons and Hill have similar positions in S.H.I.E.L.D. but Henstridge said Smulders probably outranks her. She then remembers Simmons worked directly under The Director. This only shows how 'It's NOT All Connected' in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel TV shows are and how the movies don’t acknowledge the shows at all.
Moving past that, Henstridge revealed her favorite part about portraying a scientist. She said, “I think it’s that I get to look like I’m clever, you know? Because you only get to see the takes where I get it right and I know all the chemically words. And my mom is very happy. In her brain she thinks I’m a doctor, which is so much better than an actress.” Henstridge comes from a family of doctors and when asked if she was good at science she said she was. She adds, “I did love it and I took it for my higher exams along with drama, but drama won out much to the despair of my parents. But yes, I think science is very cool.” Henstridge, then, asked the fan if she likes science and when the fan said she did, Henstridge responds with, “Awesome. Well that’s your superpower right there. It’s in your brain.”
With Season 4 of AGENTS OF SHIELD taking a darker tone and a fresh new take on the show, many fans wondered what it was like filming. Henstridge told the audience how it was her favorite season to film, but at the same time it was discomforting. Henstridge explained further and said, “Usually I spent all my day with Ian but then because we were in such separate storylines I didn’t see him. We were working on different days and different sets so I just never saw him. But it was fun. It was fun to mix it up and have people like Brett back in it and some fun cameos, so it was good. And I got to wear Daisy clothes because Skye in the framework lent me her clothes. So Simmons got some sassy clothes to wear for a bit.”
One of biggest strengths in AGENTS OF SHIELD is the amazing chemistry between the characters, the biggest example being Fitz and Simmons. When asked how the cast had such great chemistry Henstridge said, “It starts at the top, we have the most amazing executive producers and they’re so friendly and we would go drinking at their house every Friday night so I think that helped break the ice. Then Clark [Gregg], being our number one, he’s just so wonderful. He’s just so genuine and he gets it, he wants to make a really good drama, but he also gets that were friends outside and that relationship is just as important off-screen as it is onscreen. He really sets the tone. When the lead of your show has no ego then no one else can be a diva.”
Overall, we didn’t learn anything about AGENTS OF SHIELD Season 5 or AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, of course, but it was nice being able to hear about the actresses' experiences on set and how their work affects their real life.
Written by and photo by James Philbrick -- Click to read James' posts
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