There is one word to describe the experience: surreal. Our trip was super top secret. We didn’t even know what our “surprise” was until that very morning. (Marshall’s super sneaky like that) It was so covert that we couldn’t even tweet anywhere near the studio lot for fear of a geotag giving our covert mission away.
Our day started by hanging out on set while Chris Evans and Scarlet Johanssen were filming a scene on the Quinjet. While we were sitting on the set, we passed around headphones that allowed us to hear the dialogue. This was particularly funny because neither Chris nor Scarlet realized that we were listening in. It was just as much fun hearing the playful banter between the co-stars as it was seeing what goes into filming a scene.
They did the same scene over and over again. There was the take from the front of the ship facing in. Then they did shots from each of the sides. Then they did a take where Frank Grillo was using a touch screen interface on the ship, but in filming it was actually a green screen grid with numbers that he had memorized the hand motions for the scene. (That was cool to see how they did that!)
What blew my mind was this scene (probably about two minutes in length) took the entire three hours we were on set to film. THREE HOURS for TWO MINUTES of screen time. That is crazy! It really gave me prospective just how much work goes into making a film. Now for something cool for you guys. They just released a new bit for Captain America 2, and it’s the scene that we saw filming. Check it out! (The beginning until the phrase “gear up” is what we saw filmed)
As the day went on, with each new take the crew would shout “rolling” and you would hear the cries echo across the different crew members to let everyone know to shut the heck up. Noises were reduced to a whisper and the bloggers were enjoying our eavesdropping experience on what it takes to make a Marvel movie.
As if that wasn’t cool enough, we got to play super heroes when we had our pictures taken with the Captain America shield. We also got to talk with the prop master Russel about what it takes to make all the shields that Captain America uses. After all that fun, it was the highlight of our trip. We got to meet Chris Evans. Yes, I totally had one of those “I am never washing this hand again” moments.
When Chris sauntered over to the group, it was really mind blowing. He was much more down to Earth that I ever expected. With a big Hollywood star, you expect a certain air of celebrity. He took me by surprise when he introduced himself just as “Chris”, shook our hands, and started joshing with us about where we were from. I think he even blushed a little bit when he realized that we had been listening in on the entire take. He was a real breath of fresh air in how he really seemed to enjoy taking the time to meet us, and asking how our trip was going.
We got to wrap up our trip by actually taking a photo with Chris Evans. I’ve been waiting for this photo for a year, and it’s been like Chinese water torture. It’s living proof that this whole experience wasn’t just a dream, but something amazing that I will remember for the rest of my life. It’s going to hang in my office as reminder of the awesome experience I had with my fellow bloggers learning about and experience the Captain America film. I think Chris Evans and the Captain America series just might forever have a small bit of my heart.
Stoked to see Captain America: The Winter soldier? You can now pre-order your Captain America tickets today on Fandango.com
susan says
This was such a fun day! Being behind the scenes was something I will never forget… Someone in that group photo looks very familiar lol….
Donna Hup says
What an amazing experience! I had no idea so much went into filming. This whole post makes me smile! Congrats!
Marybeth Hamilton says
I love reading these recaps of our trip to the Captain America 2 set. It’s like everyone is remembering different parts, and it’s helping me piece the entire experience back together again. What a great time!