Elizabeth Henstridgeis the director now, because this Wednesday’sMarvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.marks her directorial debut.
“It was so lovely to get OG Coulson in there with his suit.
Its quite a healing episode, even though there are some really sad things that happen in it.”
Elizabeth Henstridge directing an episode of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'.Credit: Mitch Haaseth/ABC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So when did you first realize you were interested in directing?
ELIZABETH HENSTRIDGE:I think as soon as I booked my first acting job in front of the camera.
I was just fascinated by all the different parts that went into that.
Mitch Haaseth/ABC
I started shadowing different directors, and I just loved it.
I loved being at video village and seeing every single take.
I loved asking why they were doing it.
I took so many notes.
And I think was once I started shadowing, I realized, Oh my gosh, Ilovethis.
At what point did you start shadowing?
I think I started shadowing, officially, in season 3.
What was your reaction when you found out youd be directing a time loop episode?
I found out I was directing at the start of season 7.
Usually, they dont tell us anything at all; its just a nice catch-up.
They told me then.
I burst into tears.
But they didnt tell me what the episode was.
As it was going on, they were saying, Youre [episode] 9.
Were going to be block shooting and its going to be different.
As a director, its just the most incredible episode to get because its very challenging.
You have to shoot it differently, you have to verify that each scene is still interesting.
I was busy, lets put it that way.
What did you do to keep the pace and energy up throughout all of the repetitions?
Its just the best crew in the world and obviously I have the best cast.
It wasnt difficult for me to keep my energy up or the cast and crew.
It felt like we were doing something quite special and quite different.
Then you just think, How am I going to use different angles?
What are the cuts?
How do I want to come in and out of each scene?
On the day, it was all about, Lets keep the energy up.
Simmons ends up playing a big role in this episode.
How did you handle directing yourself?
That was a funny one.
Honestly, it was harder to direct other people in the scene while I was in it.
Credit to our cast, everybody made that so easy and comfortable.
I wasnt so much worried about directing myself because I can be extremely critical of myself.
Hey, that was very different, but…
The other actors in the scene were so brilliant and supportive and responsive.
Drew, we got a system down that we would always have eye contact.
Wed spoken so much about Simmons, so I really understood we were on the same page with it.
And they had playback where I could watch it back if I wanted to.
It added a couple more layers onto it, but it was definitely fun.
Wearing lots of different hats made for a dynamic day.
What was the highlight or most memorable experience of directing?
Our day one was on a Friday, so everybody is quite tired.
Even though youre tired, people had great energy.
But we started on the most mind-twisting day: its when Daisy wakes up in the hyperbaric chamber.
It was a really complicated day.
We had a power cut.
All of the power went out, so the bed wouldnt go up and down.
It was just one of those days where you go, Oh my gosh, this is day one?
She said, Were going to do this and this is going to be amazing.
That was such a moment of, Oh my God, this is happening.
This season has been really light on Fitz so far.
What was it like to go through most of the final season not working with Iain?
It took a lot of getting used to.
Weve been separated so many times, but him not being around as a friend [was hard].
Hes such an integral part of the crew, you know?
I was grateful for the scenes that I got.
But Simmons will always be FitzSimmons in my eyes, so it was really difficult.
I speak to Iain a lot and was like, We miss you!
But, you know, all is not lost.
There may be hope at the end of the tunnel.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.
