It’s rare to be able to go behind the scenes on your favorite show but I was so thrilled to be able to experience visiting the Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D set as part of the Avengers: Age of Ultron press trip. During our Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” set visit, we toured the Costume Department which was given by the show’s costume designer Anne Foley and had the chance to chat with Chloe Bennet (“Skye”) and see her film a scene from the season finale.
And of course, chat with stars of the show, Clark Gregg (“Phil Coulson”), Ming-Na Wen (“Melinda May”), Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”), Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”), Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”), Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”) plus Co-Creator & Executive Producer Jed Whedon and Executive Producer Jeff Bell.
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars B.J. Britt as Antoine Triplett, Chloe Bennet as Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter, Henry Simmons as Alphonso ‘Mac’ Mackenzie, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons and Brett Dalton as Grant Ward. (ABC/Florian Schneider)
As you can imagine, the set is a very large sound stage somewhere in Southern California (we were not allowed to divulge it’s exact location or we would be killed, kidding but seriously). That said, it may be large but you know it is Hollywood so things are actually smaller than you think and rooms are purposed for various scenes.
During our visit, we actually got to walk up the ramp to the Quinjet and actually sit in the seats. So cool!
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet- Bloggers event (ABC/Adam Taylor)
Photos ops are always fun but we had the chance to have it take place in Agent Coulson’s office and actually sit in his chair.
Agent Coulson’s Office (photo credit: ABC/Adam Taylor)
My favorite experience had to be watching Chloe Benett’s (Skye) scenes for the season finale. It was like actually working the set. We were able to watch and hear exactly what was happening while she was shooting. It definitely took many takes to get the one scene done.
But as you can imagine putting on television show, it takes a village, right!. It was so much fun to wander through the costume department and see the cast’s and guest stars clothes.
Fun Facts I learned from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Costume Design Department Visit
1. The costume department has a vision board for each main character on the show. At the beginning of the season, Ann Foley, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D costume designer develops ideas on what each character should wear and then shows them to the producers and cast to create six strong identifiable characters.
With Ann Foley, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D costume designer (photo credit: ABC/Adam Taylor)
2. The fabric that is used to make Raina’s flower dresses are actually custom designed and printed on the SHIELD set.
Raina’s Dress is the Blue One – MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – Bloggers event (ABC/Adam Taylor)
3. A closet on a television set is “the working closet” where the costume designer pulls the clothes s well as is use for all the fittings for every episode.
4. Everybody comes in for a fitting whether they have one line or they have a big arc so Anne dresses them all.
5. Ming-Na Wen‘s s silver dress was also made in-house. 5 dresses were made for the various scenes including Ming fighting herself, two for each stunt double and one for Agent 33.
6. The number of outfits per show depends on the number of characters. Sometimes, there are 38 people in the show that need outfitting and then need multiples.
7. For an established comic book characters like Mockingbird and Deathlok, Anne always go to the source material to draw inspiration from because it’s important. According to Anne, “these are established characters in the Marvel Character universe 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.”
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Chloe Bennet as Skye. (ABC/Florian Schneider)
8. Chloe Bennet who plays “Skye” chatted with us in between takes. It was cool to see her in her “costume” especially after hearing the costume designer Anne Foley talk about dressing the principal characters. I definitely was paying close attention to “Skye’s” gloves. So cool! Talking about movie magic, Chloe mentioned how it “tingled” and felt a “little awkward” during the floating scenes with Luke who plays Lincoln.
9. More fun facts discovered during the interview with Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”), Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”), Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”), Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”). Read more from Cast Interviews.
Don’t miss tonight’s episode Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” TUESDAY, MAY 5 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Don’t Miss MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Finale– “S.O.S.,” Part One and Part Two” TUESDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET)
Visit abc.go.com/marvel-agents of shield and stay connected on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
Disclosure: NYC Single Mom was provided a trip to the Los Angeles for the Avengers: Age of Ultron, Disneynature Monkey Kingdom and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. press events. Opinions are 100% my own.
