Exclusive Interview with Jeremy Renner & Cobie Smulders About Avengers: Age of Ultron #AvengersEvent

Last month’s #AvengersEvent press junket was beyond amazing, we got to sit down and interview Age of Ultron’s Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Olsen & Aaron Taylor-Johnson, director & writer: Joss Whedon, and Marvel’s president & producer: Kevin Feige. If you are thinking, well, that was beyond cool! You are undoubtedly right, but that wasn’t all. Oh, no. We also got to sit down with Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye, and Cobie Smulders, who play Agent Maria Hill.  If you have seen Age of Ultron, you know that Hawkeye’s character plays a bigger role in this movie, which is something I really enjoyed about the movie. We got to see and learn more about these mighty heroes. Today, I want to share our Q&A with Jeremy & Cobie, here we go…

Question: Cobie, how was it to play this awesome woman agent among all these men?

Cobie: “It’s fun. It’s very fun. I mean it’s interesting because people talk about that a lot with these films that there’s few females. And it’s a male driven film. Maybe it’s because this is our second one. We all get along so well. I don’t feel that divide on set. All the guys are really great and nice and handsome, every single one of them, some more than others. Yeah, it is fun. I mean we have other strong females, Scarlett and now Lizzie. It’s just nice seeing more and more women coming into these films.”

Question: Cobie, the last time we talked about the first Avengers in New York, you had said that you thought that you were just gonna be serving coffee in the very beginning. Since then, you’ve been in several movies. How did you feel about entering the role for this movie?

Cobie: “Well, I feel like I might still be making coffees. But at Stark Tower there might be just a really nice espresso machine. So, it’s like really fancy coffees. [Chuckles] No, I don’t think I’m serving coffees anymore. It’s really cool. In the comic books Maria Hill has her own story line. And she’s a very smart, she’s independent and very controlling. It’s cool to see how now that this team is sort of under Tony’s protection and sort of funded by him how that’s working in terms of privatizing security and her dealing with that. So it’s fun to be a part of the team but also to be managing everybody as well or trying to anyway.”

Question: For both, Jeremy and Cobie, did you have a favorite scene to shoot for the film?

Jeremy: “Oh, no. I don’t believe in favorites. I think they’re equally torturous and wonderful.”

Cobie: “Yeah, I shot all of my scenes in Stark Tower, in the Avengers Tower now it’s called. I’m sure you guys all saw the movie. How amazing was that set? And it was all one set. I mean anytime that anyone was in the lab that was still on the same set. And where Tony was working on his suits was right below it. And then the bar was just a few feet away thank goodness. Yeah, that was to me, it was really cool to play all these scenes out in one location. And it really sort of helped with performance as well.”

This question is also for both, Jeremy and Cobie. How did you physically prepare for the movie? And then what was the hardest scene to film?

Jeremy: “You know, we train. We’re in the gym lifting weights, hurting our bodies. Hard? I don’t know, hardest scene to film and difficult, I don’t know. They’re all quite difficult I think. The first scene we shot was the end of the movie in Italy where the chaos is going. There’s a lot of movie parts that aren’t there, that’s where it gets a little tricky and then the moving parts aren’t really there in real life. So that’s a little trickier. You’re stabbing things with arrows that don’t exist and then firing arrows that don’t exist to things that don’t exist. It’s a little tricky and also to be like, you know, precise with it and the camera angles. It’s just technical. That makes it quite difficult ’cause all moving parts. But to me I think it’s fun because it’s like a dance. And there’s a technique to all that stuff. It’s quite arduous.”

Cobie: “Training! Yeah, I mean every time these movies come up, a couple months before you start working out. And, um, I did a few stunts in this one, not as much as the super heroes in the film. But, it’s good to get in shape. In terms of the most difficult scene, I feel like in this movie there’s a lot of scenes where we’re all in the scene together.”

Jeremy: “Those are all difficult scenes, right?”

Cobie: “Yes, we have a lot of fun together. So it’s a hard group to wrangle as well. These scenes, we take multiple days to shoot them ’cause there’s so much coverage. So, on the third day you’re like, wait, what are we doing? And, what is the scene? And what did I say? And you sort of feel like you’re in this “Groundhogs Day” where you’re just doing the same thing over. But you’re trying to remember exactly how you did it the day before. And so that’s challenging. It’s not a hard thing, but it can get a little bit tiring at times.”

This question is for Jeremy, you had a bigger role in this movie. And I have a feeling that as soon as it comes out and all the kids see it and all the parents see it that your character’s just gonna explode. I mean I can see it being big. How do you feel about that? Are you ready for that?

Jeremy: “I don’t know what that ultimately means. [LAUGHTER] I mean, I think the greatest thing that I get out of this whole experience of being in this giant movie and the one prior is artistically it doesn’t really hit a lot nerves in my body. But it certainly, soon as a five year old ran up to me that changed the game. I’m, wow, I have a five year old. And that’s amazing. And then here comes his dad in the same costume.

[LAUGHTER] A little creepy. That’s the creepy part. But like when the little kids come on up to you, God, it just crushes me. I’ll stop and do anything for a little creature, man. I’m crazy about them. I welcome it, is the short answer. I welcome that. If it’s the little kids. The grown people, stay out of the costume, man. Come on, I love you. [LAUGHS] I’ll see you at Comic-Con. That’s okay then.

Like we’re at Starbucks, dude. You know what I mean? I’m not kidding. We just happened to be in costume. Yeah, really? [LAUGHS] This is like a mommy and me class. This is amazing. Trust me, I’ve been to them. Like the mister mommy and me. It’s awesome.”

This question is for both Jeremy and Cobie, Where do you want to see each of your character’s go in the subsequent movies?

Cobie: “You know, there’s so many different directions. There’s a plethora of comic books and cartoons and all these things that they could pull from. So for me personally, it’s hard to say. I mean it’d be cool to learn more about Maria Hill’s past and sort of how she came to be and where she is. Yeah, it’s hard to say. It’s very much under Marvel’s control. And they’re very great at choosing great storylines. So we’ll see.”

Jeremy: “Yeah, I think for me, I have a lot of ideas. But it doesn’t really ultimately matter. I think the relationships are kind of what are interesting in this world with others. I’d just like to see the new ones start and others fade or whatever, just and deepen. I’d be curious about the next upcoming ones.”

This question is for Cobie, Agent Hill’s pretty great at shooting. We get to see that Shield and in the movies. Do you get to go to the gun range and maybe practice before filming?

Cobie: “She always hits him. I mean it’s like magic. That’s the great thing about being in these movies. You can shoot over here and that guy dies. [LAUGHTER] Always hit your mark. It’s very exciting. I did a lot of training for the first Avengers, ’cause I was actually quite terrified of guns. So, I did a lot of that. I kind of got over that fear through, doing the first one. And then the second one you always have a day or two with whichever crewmember is sort of in charge of that to do some training beforehand. So I did that. It’s very much just shoot in this direction. I hope I look like I knew what I was doing. Most of the training came the first time around.

Last question for Cobie, I was wondering, what do you think Maria Hill is doing when she’s off, if she ever really?

Cobie: “Yeah, I don’t think she gets a lot of time off. I don’t think she has much of a personal life. It’d be an interesting thing to explore for sure. But yeah, I don’t think that she’s getting out into the world very often.”

I have a few question that I didn’t include in this article or the previous ones, stay tuned as I will do a separate post with all the spoilers shared with us from Avengers’ director, producer and talent. Until then, I hope you enjoy all the Q&A interviews we have shared with you until now and don’t forget to read our Avengers: Age of Ultron movie review (No spoilers) 🙂

Marvel’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is in theaters NOW! Starting Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders with James Spader and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. For more information please visit the Avengers Facebook page.

Avengers: Age of Ultron – Trailer #3

OFFICIAL BOILERPLATE:

Marvel Studios presents “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.

Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision.

Disclosure: I was provided with an all expense paid trip to L.A to facilitate the review of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, no additional compensation was received.