01x01 - The Making of WandaVision

[bunniefuu]

MATT SHAKMAN: Welcome

to what is a strange event.

The first live sitcom taping

in Marvel Studios history.

(ALL CHEERING)

I didn't know that I was gonna

be able to do anything like this,

so it just feels like

an incredible gift.

Moving through to the

'60s and the '70s now,

and, as we dove into the

'80s and '90s, is really fun.

And then, ending up in a big Marvel,

full widescreen format is the best.

We were first really terrified,

and now I think we're just so excited.

The first time I heard

about the concept,

I thought it was brilliant.

We're putting together so many

different genres of television,

and we are putting our own spin on it.

That is something special, baby.

I just think it's gonna be

so shocking, and confusing, and exciting

for our fans to dissect

what we're doing and why,

and for them to try and

get steps ahead of us.

And that's just very cool

and it's very satisfying.

This is for us.

So let me handle it.

What is outside of Westview?

I got a call from Kevin to

come see him in his office.

When I went, "Oh, I'm getting canned".

And I went in, and, much to my surprise,

they pitched this bonkers

idea for a show.

And I was immediately in, of course.

And the show has only grown

more bonkers. (CHUCKLES)

You're the new clown?

At least you're already in makeup.

JARVIS: Welcome home, sir.

It's so nice to see you finally

coming out of your shell.

- BETTANY: It's been a crazy ride.

- That was a good one.

Jon Favreau rung me up and

We had made a movie together

called Wimbledon.

He rung me up and he said,

"I'm making this movie with

Robert Downey, and he's Iron Man.

And I need sort of a really

boring, personality-less voice

for the computer that runs his world.

(CHUCKLING) And I immediately

thought of you, Paul".

Rendering periodic table, sir.

How do you say no when

you're asked so nicely?

(LAUGHS)

Anyway, and it was a great gig.

They'd sh*t everything and whatever

still needed clarification,

you could always just have JARVIS

say, "The baddies are coming!"

JARVIS: Sir, it appears

that this suit can fly.

Duly noted. Take me to maximum altitude.

BETTANY: And then, I don't

know how the next bit happened.

I guess Joss Whedon had

seen me in some movie,

and figured out a way for me

to actually work for a living,

- if you can call it work.

- (LAUGHS)

So, then that happened.

That was Age of Ultron.

(GLASS BREAKS)

OLSEN: Starting with Ultron,

Marvel really was so excited

to bring Wanda into the MCU.

And was only really teeing

me up for possibilities

that we didn't know if we would actually

fulfill those possibilities or not.

I looked in your head,

and I saw annihilation.

Look again.

So, we would place Easter

eggs in certain places,

whether it's just a glance

too long with Vision or just

We were trying to play around

with that in Age of Ultron.

I feel like the hand-off

to different directors

have been completely

different experiences

for this character specifically.

I think the Russo Brothers

were very honest about,

"You know, I really want this

to be something that you shepherd

and that you take full ownership of".

And I was like, "Okay". (LAUGHS)

So, I had to choreograph with

this choreographer, Jenny White,

who we brought on in Age of Ultron.

Bring in that energy

and throw it back out.

We just had to figure out our

own place at the same time

while Wanda was trying

to figure out her own place

in the Avengers compound

and finding solace in Vision.

Tell me what you feel.

I just feel you.

OLSEN: And I think Paul and

I, we both really believed,

as much as it's fun

to be part of the humor

and the playfulness of the Avengers,

we've always my

character specifically,

has also always, in our

relationship together,

we've kind of just created

just an emotional foundation

that doesn't play around

with irony, really.

Which is kind of odd in these movies

when so much is ironic

and funny and fun to watch.

But it's also kind of lovely

that it's told through

their strange love story.

We are out of time.

I can't.

VISION: Yes, you can.

It shouldn't be you, but it is.

(BREATHES SHAKILY)

(SIGHS)

I love you.

(SCREAMS)

Hey.

- (CHUCKLES)

- (KISSES)

Now we can begin. Wanda, you pick.

OLSEN: And then moving on to the show

with Mary Livanos, our producer,

and Jac Schaeffer, our creator,

they really honed in on all these

things that were in my head,

and all these inner

monologues and threads

and arcs that I kind of just created.

And they just really took

it in such a deep way

and created such beautiful arcs.

Morning, wife! Morning, sons!

Morning, unfamiliar wet animal.

Who's this?

BETTANY: It's such a homage to

the sort of American sitcoms

throughout the 20th century.

What kind of housewife would I be

if I didn't have a gourmet meal

for four just lying about the place?

BETTANY: Jac Schaeffer

has done such a great job.

It's such a little beautiful puzzle box.

SCHAEFFER: I was lucky enough to

be invited to look at the materials

and sort of digest

it and think about it.

And there was so much

that was already there.

This is Kevin Feige's baby.

He loves the show and had some

really distinct ideas and visuals

and things that they

all wanted to achieve.

MARY LIVANOS: Matt Shakman

is just the person to direct

a complicated Rubik's

cube of a show like this.

He runs the Geffen Playhouse back in LA.

He's worked on Game of Thrones.

He's worked on countless sitcoms

and, in fact, starred,

back when he was younger,

in sitcoms as a child actor,

and he is just the Swiss

Army Kn*fe of a human

that we need for a show like this.

Hart goes back in. Door slams.

- He goes to the phone!

- (DOOR SLAMS)

We pause here. All right.

And let's continue on

with our ladies over here.

It blew my mind when they pitched

me the concept for the show.

More than just because the idea

is outrageously fun and new,

but also because it felt like

it hit all the parts of my life.

I grew up being on shows from the '80s

like Facts of Life,

and Diff'rent Strokes,

Growing Pains, et cetera.

But I've also directed a lot

of large-scale spectacle.

And so, the idea that

there existed a project

in the Marvel Universe,

which I'm also an enormous fan of

and dressed up like superheroes

from the Marvel comic

books when I was a kid

until they told me I had to stop,

the idea that I could combine

all these things that I've always loved

into one crazy project was

almost too hard to believe.

It's too good to be true.

All right, ready, Janell?

- Yeah.

- All right, let's do it.

And action!

SCHAEFFER: We're starting in the 1950s,

so it was always our dream that if

we did a true multi-camera show,

we would have a live audience.

And we knew it was a risk, we

knew it would be an expense,

almost an indulgence,

but for the actors, for the

energy, and for the crew,

it will be really exciting.

- I've been playing to the audience, so

- (LAUGHS)

You tell me where the camera is,

and I'll start playing to the camera.

SHAKMAN: So you're on our sitcom

stage for the first episode.

Over there is Vision's

office, where he works,

and he works for a guy named Mr. Hart.

Mr. Hart and his dear lady

wife, Mrs. Hart. (HUFFS)

That's what I just said.

What's wrong with you, son?

- Have you got a screw loose?

- Oh, no, sir, screws all tight, sir.

And then over here, right to your right,

is the house where

Wanda and Vision live.

This is their kitchen,

over here to the right,

this beautiful blue kitchen.

But when you see it on the actual show,

it's gonna be in black and white,

so you won't actually get

to see the color of it.

And then over here is their living room.

So what's a single gal like you

doing rattling around this big house?

Behind you is our live audience seating.

We wanted it to feel period,

so that's why we have

the old wooden chairs

and we've matched the

railings and how it all looks,

because so much of it is about

the audience's experience.

Kevin Feige and I had a lovely

lunch with d*ck Van d*ke

shortly before we started

pre-production on the show,

so we could really get in

touch with how they did it

and to be as authentic as we could,

not just in how it would look and feel,

but in how it was put together,

the style, the way they rehearsed,

the way they approached

blocking and sh**ting.

SCHAEFFER: Wanda would

technically go to a quick change.

She's not gonna do it now.

We'll get the living room

dressed. It's happening.

And then we would light the

candles right at the very end,

and we would go.

The d*ck Van d*ke Show

really was theater.

They put it up.

They sh*t it once in

front of the audience,

like a play, all the way through.

You can feel it when

you watch that show.

The audience is in it, like

when they're in the theater.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

The adrenaline, the audience, and

the actors feed off of each other.

And that creates something

that you can't imitate.

That's why we're going

to these great lengths.

And our actors have been wonderful.

I'm a little anxious

about the whole live

I haven't been in front of

a live audience since 1884.

- Oh, is that right? Oh.

- Yeah.

So, I'm a little anxious

about the whole thing.

Yeah, I would be too.

Still, I just, you know

Hundred-plus years ago.

- Hundred-plus years ago.

- That's a long time.

MAN: Welcome to WandaVision.

Thank you so much, guys.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

We're so excited to have you guys.

We've been working hard

the last two weeks

on making this happen for you all.

If you guys can give us all the laughter

and all the natural reactions you have

to what we're doing, we

would be most grateful.

And then you will probably

hear yourself,

especially if you're one

of those loud laughers

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

when you actually

watch the show later on.

Now, I would love to introduce you

to the characters you're

gonna meet today.

- David Lengel.

- (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

Asif Ali.

Debra Jo Rupp.

Fred Melamed.

Kathryn Hahn.

The Vision himself, Paul Bettany.

And, as Wanda Maximoff, Elizabeth Olsen!

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

OLSEN: I mean, I've done theater before,

but sh**ting a TV show in

front of a live audience

was like a strange meta

experience for me

because I grew up on the Full House set

watching these live tapings on Fridays,

never thinking that that would

ever be a form of reality for me.

Guess who?

Oh. (CHUCKLES)

Is that my host behind me?

- It certainly is!

- (SIGHS)

- Lovely to make your acquaintance.

- Yes! (CHUCKLES)

OLSEN: Doing sitcom gave

me so much joy every day.

I think it gave all of

us so much actual joy.

It's really different.

- High-octane.

- It's very authentic,

you know, late '50s sitcom,

and it feels very different.

You have to swing for the

fences and hope that you

OLSEN: We're playing for an audience.

And I feel like in the Marvel films,

it's a cinematic universe,

and this we're playing for laughs.

I've never been allowed to be funny.

This is my first time getting

to be funny as Wanda.

What a gas.

I'm very funny.

- She is enormously funny.

- I'm very funny.

I think I have another idea.

- SHAKMAN: And

- And then I change.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

BETTANY: Every member of the

crew was dressed in costumes.

Everybody got into the spirit of it.

And then the audience came

in, and we just went for it.

It was nerve-racking, but I think

it was so rewarding and so funny.

Us running backstage,

bumping into me, bumping

into Kathryn Hahn,

and making her drop

her props or whatever.

Everybody's getting ready

behind doors to come out.

And it was so much fun.

- (OBJECTS CLATTERING)

- Oh, my!

HAHN: That was just a dream.

The costumes are so fabulous.

Mayes, the designer, is such a genius.

That dress!

Yes, the dress! It's It's so

It's Sokovian, is what it is! Yes!

It is my favorite period for clothes

because it shows off a

waist if you have a waist.

I have a waist. I have no limbs.

I'm very short, but I have a waist,

so I really like the '50s.

So, that was great.

I kind of like the hair and

I have a magnificent hat.

They had a little table

with a whole bunch of hats,

and I just went,

"Could I have that hat, please?"

And it was perfect.

But the '50s undergarments are

not the most comfortable things,

but they help with your posture.

Yeah, I got my Spanx

on. My lifts in my heels.

I've got my Spanx on.

I've got my flats on.

- Ready to go.

- But I'm ready emotionally.

You wanna talk about your butt?

Yeah, I did want to talk

about my butt, for a second.

I wanna talk about my dress first.

Um, it makes me have better posture.

And it makes me wanna

walk like this and

I have exactly the same

thing, but with my fake butt.

- With your fake butt.

- Yeah,

it makes me stand properly,

and makes me wanna do this too.

- This?

- Yeah.

We knew that when we started this show,

the way that we were going to

sell it authentically to an audience

would be with every level of recreation.

So, that includes the camera lenses,

that includes the set decoration,

era-accurate lighting.

SHAKMAN: Jess Hall,

who's a brilliant DP,

looked at old original prints

of these television shows,

and he was able to try to match

how closely as we could possibly

get to what it looked like then.

(LAUGHS)

You truly are a pioneer!

SHAKMAN: Action!

Freeze! Swap!

Action!

(GASPS) Oh, no, too much!

We wanted to make sure we approached it

with authenticity and not parody,

and to that end, we wanted to

sh**t it the way they sh*t it.

That means visual effects

that would have been

done as special effects.

Luckily, Dan Sudick, who's our

special effects coordinator,

when I first had my call

with him, when I started this

and I laid out this idea,

I didn't know if he was

going to like the idea

or he's gonna be like, "What're you

talking about? I blow things up!"

He actually loved it.

He started laughing.

He said, "I came up under the

guys who did Bewitched.

They were my mentors.

And so, I started my career

doing things on wires.

I know how to do it. It's a lot of fun".

And so, we have him and his team

doing really complicated puppeteering

gags with wires and rods,

and they're spending just as much time

on that as they are blowing things up.

How can I be of assistance?

Well, the chicken is

no longer a chicken,

and the lobsters just flew the coop

so the steak is the last man standing.

OLSEN: I went to theater school.

You study screwball comedies.

You study film noir style of acting,

you feel so stupid when

you're in college. You're like,

"When am I ever gonna do this?

No one makes this anymore".

And so, getting to use all those tools

that you have somewhere in you.

(EXCLAIMS)

Something that I don't really get to do.

- Now, that's romantic.

- (BOTH LAUGH)

OLSEN: I think the '50s was the hardest

for me because it was like a warm up.

Once it clicked, it was a blast.

Down in one! Down in one!

Please eat before it gets cold.

BETTANY: I think what it did was it

made me think I've wasted my life.

I should've been on a

sitcom all these years.

I (LAUGHS) I just loved it.

I should have prefaced,

I'm a very shallow person,

so I really rely on people

(CHUCKLES) people applauding.

- Yes!

- Thank you very much!

- Thank you!

- (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS AND CHEERS)

Thank you!

MAN: All right!

Part of the challenge in

producing a show like this

is that we really are making one

giant movie in the way that we sh**t.

Each day, each week, we're sh**ting

pivotal moments of the series,

we have to make sure that

the larger story, as

a whole, is seamless.

OLSEN: We really created all of these

different characters in the town.

And we have our core cast.

Raspberry or cheese-filled?

Oh, neither for me, thank

you. I don't eat food.

OLSEN: We got the Davids.

We have Asif. We have Emma.

MRS. HART: What brought you here?

How long have you been married?

And why don't you have children yet?

So grateful we have Debra Jo,

who is sitcom-gold

and gets to be a part in our wacky show.

My, um, great nephew basically said

if I did not take the job,

he would never visit me again,

so, I Well, here I am.

She loved getting to film

some of the more Marvel-y

stuff that we did in the finale.

She just thought it

was fabulous. (LAUGHS)

I got to do this thing.

Oh, my God! I got to do

this thing where you

I don't know what it's called.

It's a body scan, okay?

And so you stand

I took pictures. It's amazing.

But I won't show them to anyone, Marvel.

Kathryn Hahn.

(CACKLES)

I don't know how I went so

long never working with her.

I've had the greatest time.

You're, like, a monologue

early, Kathryn.

I was feeling left out.

OLSEN: The journey with her

consistently throughout the decades

and how the Nosy Neighbor

is so prominent.

Spoiler alert!

OLSEN: She nailed all of the layers

that were required of her

and then went beyond.

- SHAKMAN: Cut!

- One more!

- SHAKMAN: One more! Still rolling.

- Ready?

This character is like

a blooming onion to me.

I mean, the fact that I was

able to start on the outside

and kind of move into the center

as the episodes go on was,

like, such an actor's dream.

I keep saying it was

like a Tracey Ullman

Like a Tracey Ullman special.

Well, I was just on my way to Jazzercise

when I heard your brand-new bundles

of joy were on a sleep strike.

HAHN: And the fact that her true center

was this fantastical,

incredible witch, was like

Who gets to do that? I remember

when it was pitched to me

And it's so exciting to be able to

say this out loud to somebody

'cause I have not been able

to say it to anybody. Um

But when it was pitched

to me, I was like

I could not imagine a part

in the Marvel Universe

that I would have wanted to play more.

(CACKLING)

(CONTINUES CACKLING)

- Oh, good times!

- (LAUGHTER)

- Good times!

- SHAKMAN: And cut!

- Did you hear that?

- No.

It was like a a

chattering sound, like

Oh! Like a

(MIMICS MACHINE WHIRRING)

Yeah.

That's my new ice maker,

built right into the fridge.

- Oh!

- (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY)

You're fancy.

I have wanted to be in the

MCU since the MCU debuted.

I didn't even know what

I was auditioning for.

We all know Marvel is very top secret.

And I was just sent some sides.

I think it was the '70s episode.

So, I was very confused.

It didn't say it was

'70s, but it's high farce.

And I was like, "What do I

do with this? I'm not sure".

Because it's not Marvel

as my mind can process.

And so they sent notes like,

"Just overact. It's

okay, just go for it.

We don't care that you

don't feel that it's grounded.

That's not what we're looking for".

So, I was like, "Okay".

And I did some very great overacting.

Oh, sugar.

He hired me!

Oh! (CHUCKLES)

Wanda! I landed a promotion.

And now that I've gone all corporate,

I need some office supplies.

I just didn't know,

and I was like, "Okay".

And I let it go for, like, two weeks

because you can't hold these

things too close to your heart

'cause you will get heartbroken

so many times.

But this time, there was no heartbreak.

They called, and they were

like, "Hey, you got the part".

And I'm like, (GASPS) "What

part? What's the part?"

(LAUGHS) I went, "What is

it?" But it's Marvel. Okay.

Before they even told me what it was,

I said to my agent, I was like,

"Oh, my gosh, what if

it's Monica Rambeau?

What if it's Monica Rambeau?"

And then it was Monica

Rambeau, and I lost it.

And I practically tried

to jump off a set of stairs

'cause I thought I could

fly. I was so excited.

So, when we leave Captain

Marvel, Monica is a young girl.

She's got her whole life ahead of her.

- You have to go!

- Monica!

You've a chance to fly the coolest

mission in the history of missions.

And you're gonna give

it up to sit on the couch

and watch Fresh Prince with me?

I just think you should consider

what kind of example you're

setting for your daughter.

PARRIS: And when we pick up

with her in WandaVision,

we find out she now works for

S.W.O.R.D., as a astronaut,

and I feel like we've gotten to a really

great origin story for Monica.

Having the opportunity to play

Monica Rambeau is truly an honor,

and to have a Black female superhero

be on a screen is monumental.

(ALL GRUNTING)

Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?

It's been so amazing

to bring Darcy back,

especially in kind of an unexpected way.

You know, the last time

we saw Darcy, she was

still Jane Foster's intern

and kind of her friend.

We weren't really sure

what's going on with her.

Apparently, she's just been going

to college this whole time.

And now she's an astrophysicist.

My equipment registered an extremely

high level of CMBR. That's

Relic Radiation dating

back to the Big Bang.

Yeah, entwined was

a broadcast frequency.

So I had your g*ons pick

me up a sweet vintage TV.

And when I plug this bad boy in,

the cathode ray tube inside

plucked the signal out of the air

and decoded it just

like in the olden times.

Voilà, sound and picture.

DENNINGS: Randall Park,

obviously, is Jimmy Woo,

and it's been really fun to kind

of have us together in scenes.

They kind of have us

with Teyonah Parris.

There's a lot of dark, serious drama,

and it's fun to kind of

have that little break.

You can't go back into the Hex.

Worst case scenario,

Wanda removes my free will and

puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans.

I feel like it's like a family.

It's like a big family.

Just to be a member of

the family, it's really cool.

I mean, when I did Ant-man and the Wasp,

I was just happy to be there.

I thought it was gonna be a one-off.

Your school has rules, right?

Like, you can't draw on the walls.

Well, your daddy went to Germany

and drew on the walls

with Captain America.

And that was a violation of Article 16,

paragraph 3 of the Sokovia Accords.

Just to have Jimmy come

back is such a thrill for me

because I just love

the character so much.

And to have so much of the character

we established in Ant-man and the Wasp

with the magic and the tendency

to want to connect with people

and tell stories about his life,

even when it's not

necessarily asked for.

Like all those little

things, little seeds

that we planted in Ant-man and the Wasp,

they all kind of get to

blossom in WandaVision.

This isn't a missing person's case,

Captain Rambeau, it's a missing town.

Population 3,892.

Why haven't you gone

inside to investigate?

'Cause it doesn't want me to.

Tonally, WandaVision runs the gamut.

I can't even keep up myself

sometimes. (CHUCKLES)

I'm like, "Which world are we in now?"

OLSEN: For the first episode,

it's the '50s, and it's silly humor,

but it was like really

great physical comedy,

and that bleeds into the '60s,

the second episode, which is Bewitched.

Just mind your P's and Q's

and you're gonna do just fine.

OLSEN: The tone doesn't change too much.

Darling! Oh!

I think we still allow her

to just become more modern of a woman

instead of trying to play the housewife.

Well, thank you for giving me

the strength and the courage.

OLSEN: The thing that we loved

so much in the '50s and in the '60s,

between the marriages in those shows,

is that they were like really

funny and really honest,

and, like, lovely and

beautiful and felt in love.

- Should we put our heads together?

- SHAKMAN: Very cute.

OLSEN: And then we get into the'70s

and it just becomes

this, like, Brady Bunch

kinda creepily, like,

not grounded anymore.

Strangest thing just

happened outside with

Whoa, Nelly!

BETTANY: It's a surprise

initially that she got pregnant.

We didn't know that that was possible.

It's a magical moment

because she's, sort of,

suddenly six months pregnant.

SHAKMAN: If you could

lean in as much as

I have a belly in front of me.

Her pregnancy is progressing

at an alarming speed. (LAUGHS)

You're at about four

months now. Is that right?

OLSEN: I was so excited

to have an episode

where I went through every single stage

of my pregnancy in one day.

That was fabulous. (LAUGHS)

It was so perfect and funny.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

Vis

Yes, dear?

I think my water just broke.

We're doing this bit where I'm

trying to hide that I'm pregnant.

And so Monica is over, Teyonah's over.

And I'm switching all these coats

on and off, like, magically.

And I'm in the kitchen and

everything's kind of going

bonkers in the kitchen.

I'm trying to hide my belly from her.

And so, I keep magically

changing all of my coats.

So, we'd have to freeze.

And then someone would

come on and put on my coat,

then I'd have to freeze again,

then I'd have a contraction.

And there's a moment where

I had to do a double take

and I kept making it like a triple take,

and a quadruple take. (CHUCKLING)

I just kept, like,

amping it up each time.

And it was the moment when

Matt came up to me and he said,

"Okay, let's try and keep it

I think we're doing too much now,

let's try and keep it to a double take".

And it was the thing that

Matt keeps saying, like,

"Go further, go further!"

And I think that was

when I laughed so hard

because he was telling me to stop.

Vision ran to get the doctor.

He'll be back soon.

BETTANY: Baby's born, and I miss it.

But I'm there for the second baby,

and then, "Oh, my God, they're twins!"

So, yeah, we have twins, and,

uh, they're confusing, too,

because they're born babies, but

very quickly, they're toddlers.

Where are the twins?

- Mommy?

- Daddy?

Wha Did y

And then, very quickly, they are,

you know, sort of ten years old.

We don't think you'll be old enough

to properly care for an animal

until you're at least

(WHISPERS) Ten.

Ten years old. (CHUCKLES)

SHAKMAN: Look at each other.

- Well, now, hang on there a minute

- Wait, no, no, no.

- VISION: you young whippersnappers.

- WANDA: No, no, no!

- (AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

- (GASPS)

Let's just hope this dog

stays the same size.

This is the '80s, yeah. So

we designed one basic layout,

and then we've just changed

it through the decades.

So, this is still the d*ck Van d*ke set,

inspired by d*ck Van d*ke kitchen,

but now this is the '80s

inspired by Full House

and Family Ties

Growing Pains, all the shows

that we loved from the '80s.

- (BABIES CRYING)

- Now, I know

parents aren't supposed

to take shortcuts,

but I think this situation

calls for one, don't you?

SHAKMAN: It's funny now

when you look back at it,

it's a beloved generation and it's

also a self-parodying era as well

because you look at the hair and

the clothes and we all wonder,

"We really thought that was cool?

"How did we ever go

outside looking that way?"

It's almost like we're on a date.

- Almost.

- (CHUCKLES)

With two really cranky chaperones.

(BOTH LAUGH)

My memories of the

'80s, as a '90s child,

is that I still got to wear

these beautiful vests

and things like this

and had lots of beautiful hats

with big flowers on them.

I just missed it,

but the '80s were a horrible

time of style and hair.

But I really actually am partial

to this wig, I have to say.

- I'm

- MAN: It's fabulous.

I feel like I'm filled with secrets.

OLSEN: At the end of

the episode in the '80s,

to Wanda's surprise,

she gets a knock at the door.

It was not something

that she consciously did.

And so she's very confused by it.

And the knock on the door

is her brother, Pietro.

But he looks different because

it's Evan Peters. (CHUCKLES)

- TOMMY: No! Ow!

- Get over here!

OLSEN: And the character he

plays is like Uncle Jesse.

- Come on!

- (LAUGHTER)

OLSEN: Like, the cool uncle,

who's coming in to stir things up.

Right on, little dude!

Chip off the old Maximoff block.

You've got super speed!

- TOMMY: I do?

- Yeah!

OLSEN: And that's the trope he uses

as part of his relationship

to the sitcom land.

I can't believe what a

bad influence you are.

Who beefed in your borscht?

I'm just trying to do my part. Okay?

Come to town unexpectedly, create

tension with the brother-in-law,

stir up trouble with the rugrats,

and ultimately give you grief.

I mean, that's what

you wanted, isn't it?

What happened to your accent?

What happened to yours?

I'm thrilled. I'm such a huge

fan of the Marvel Universe.

So, I'm, like I'm

just excited to be here.

It's, like, the character

is so funny and meta,

and an interesting way to do it.

When Kevin was telling

me about it, I was like,

"Oh, that sounds awesome,

and hilarious, and so weird".

Long lost bro get to squeeze his

stinkin' sister to death or what?

(TV AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

She recast Pietro?

SCHAEFFER: For the '80s,

we're doing Family Ties,

Growing Pains, Who's the Boss.

Who's the popsicle?

And, yeah, that's my era,

so I am very excited for that.

And then also, we're having

our theme songs composed by

Bobby and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

You wander the world with a vision ♪

Of what life could be ♪

But then the years

come and teach you ♪

To just wait and see ♪

Matt's actually a friend of mine

from school, from college.

He called and just said,

"Okay, so you know Wanda and

Vision from the Avengers.

"This is a crazy idea.

It's like sitcoms,

and we go from the '50s, we do the '60s,

and every single episode

is a different style

and a different theme song".

- And we were like

- "Sign us up".

"Sign us up. You had us at

'Hello', man. That is amazing".

Oh ♪

A newlywed couple just moved to town ♪

A regular husband and wife ♪

Who left the big city

to find a quiet life ♪

WandaVision! ♪

But we decided, since

everything was so disparate,

there's gonna be a '50s

song and a '60s song,

and they would all have the

word "WandaVision" in them

WandaVision! ♪

WandaVision! ♪

LOPEZ: that we decided

to make a WandaVision motif

that would be able to be

used in a different way.

I played them through for Kristen,

but the first one was this.

(PLAYS TUNE ON KEYBOARD)

She was like, "That's the one".

- "That's it".

- (BOTH CHUCKLE)

LOPEZ: It could be the

'50s, where it's like

(PLAYING TUNE ON KEYBOARD)

Or, um, you know, the

'60s one, which is, um

(PLAYING PEPPY TUNE)

And the '80s one, which is

(PLAYS SLOWER TUNE)

The fun became finding a way

to hide that musical signature

somewhere in each song.

WandaVision! ♪

You look at the period, the

influences of the period,

and the instrumentation of the period,

and the language of the period.

LOPEZ: We talked a lot with Matt

and Jac about our favorites.

The things that we were all drawn to

became the things that we

tried to emulate the most.

We often talked to them

before we hit each decade,

at least for a half hour.

So, you know, we would

Maybe we did the '50s and

the '60s on the same call,

and said, "Well, we

know what the '50s is.

"'60s, let's talk about it". Um

And, you know, all agreed

that Bewitched in particular,

um, was a big thing.

But we also looked at James Bond movies,

we looked at Burt Bacharach

- We looked at, um

- Mahna Mahna.

what was going on in

the pop culture of that time,

and made sure that we

were really referencing

sort of that bebop jazz,

the cool jazz that was there.

(CHUCKLES) And also, just that

Swinging Sixties culture of the time.

WandaVision Wa-WandaVision ♪

WandaVision ♪

- (POP MUSIC PLAYS)

- (MALE SINGER SCATTING)

WandaVision ♪

ANDERSON-LOPEZ: The '70s

has a touch of tambourine.

LOPEZ: Oh, for sure.

Because we were referencing

The Brady Bunch and

The Partridge Family,

and any family jam band that

dresses up in fringe outfits

and travels in a groovy

van to their next gig.

But it's groovy and fun ♪

It's me and it's you ♪

Kristen and I have always

loved songs that go

(SCATTING)

(MALE SINGER SCATTING)

WandaVision ♪

(MALE SINGER SCATTING)

WandaVision ♪

One plus one is family ♪

WandaVision ♪

LOPEZ: The '80s I mean,

in particular, the '80s

is where we're all from,

where we grew up in.

After school, that's where we'd go home

and watch Diff'rent Strokes

and Punky Brewster, and

Right. I mean, our whole family life

was scheduled around Family Ties

coming on, or Growing Pains.

The one that they've done for

the '80s is by far my favorite.

I sing it all the time.

Crossing our fingers, singing a song ♪

We're making it up as we go along ♪

Oh, and then, with the aughts.

Wanda Wanda Vision ♪

ANDERSON-LOPEZ: We got to have

this wonderful collaboration

with the original riot grrrl

LOPEZ: Kathleen Hanna, the

lead singer of Bikini k*ll.

And just gives it this wonderful

authenticity, punk authenticity.

Easy come and easy go ♪

But if it's all illusion ♪

Sit back, and enjoy the show ♪

We got to play in a totally

different kind of playground,

with a completely new set of references,

and show off other

things that we could do.

And we got to write things

that really didn't have to

carry a whole lot of story

weight, just had to set tone.

ANDERSON-LOPEZ: I think it's a

tone unlike anything I've ever seen.

It's fun, it's funny,

it's nostalgic, and it's creepy.

OLSEN: To jump off the genre blending,

even in the '50s and '60s episodes,

we have moments of Twilight Zone.

And instead of it being

moments of today's horror,

we take camera tricks from Twilight Zone

to make you feel off-kilter.

So, in order to get to

that cinematic feeling

or sense of something

being off in each

'Cause something has to go wrong

in order to advance to the next decade,

or else why are you changing

the scenario or the given circumstances?

And so we used Twilight

Zone tropes for that.

And then, for something like once

we get to the Halloween episode,

we're in this idyllic

town, it's Halloween,

it's like the perfect type of Halloween.

Truly the most charming costumes

I've seen on extras ever.

It was very, very cute.

And kids are wreaking havoc,

and it's just perfect.

Somebody better be

bleeding, broken, or on fire.

It was so fun to get to be

in these old costumes of the characters.

Why do you look different?

OLSEN: In Age of Ultron,

everyone referenced

certain comic books for me to focus on,

and told me, "Don't pay attention

to what she's wearing.

You're not gonna be in a leotard, tights

and a crown on your head. I swear".

And I was like, "Oh, thank God".

And now, the way we incorporated

the retro costume of the

Scarlet Witch on Halloween,

it gave me so much joy.

Like, if you were to ask me

seven years ago to wear that,

even if it were ironically,

I would be like, "Oh, really?"

But now that I've so much

love for the fandom

and so much love for the comics,

it's so fun to be in that costume.

I love you. I'm sorry.

(ALL LAUGHING)

And seeing Paul dressed like a wrestler,

he, it's just the whole It's

just he's It's so funny.

Thank you for humoring me and

wearing this ridiculous get-up, honey.

There were no other

clothes in my closet, so

I get to disguise myself as the Vision,

but the Vision from the comic books.

And it was my favorite costume

'cause it was so humiliating and funny

and I had a pair of shorts pulled

very high up around my waist,

and yellow Converse

to be my super-shoes.

When Vision goes out further

to where we call "Ellis Avenue",

um, I always told the kids

BOTH: Don't go past Ellis Avenue.

We know, Mom. We know.

OLSEN: That's the end of the Hex.

And so, the closer you

get to the end of the Hex,

the less control Wanda

has of the actual town,

and people are just

doing things by rote.

BETTANY: People are having

these repetitive things,

or hanging up Halloween decorations,

and taking it down, and doing it again.

And characters that you realize

are just less well drawn by Wanda.

And then he gets further out,

and he finds children trick-or-treating,

but they're just

absolutely frozen still.

Are those your children?

Are you waiting for something?

BETTANY: And that leads to the

denouement of the whole show.

It's so much fun to have gone through

all of these multi-camera sitcom stuff.

You're sh**ting in a

very familiar way, right?

Very static cameras.

And then suddenly, when you cut to

an angle that shouldn't be there

or a camera move that would never

It really, you really feel it

when you're watching it,

so it's a great storytelling

tool. And then, of course,

in the end, everything kind

of breaks down and becomes,

"We're in the real world, in an

MCU version of the real world".

(GASPS)

- Am I dead?

- No.

- Why would you think that?

- Because you are.

We are standing at the very front

of what we call "the pop-up base",

which is our m*llitary base

set up by S.W.O.R.D.

to investigate the anomaly

that Wanda has set up here in Westview.

So that's what this building is about,

a temporary structure

from which to observe and

deal with this problem.

We're in the Marvel world,

so in many ways, you'd expect we would

start with something a bit more stylized

and, sort of, you know, sci-fi.

But we wanted to make it

a little more realistic,

so we started with ideas

of what kind of m*llitary response

is there to a disaster, for example,

if it were a chemical att*ck,

or nuclear att*ck, or

something like that.

And they actually have these

response teams called CBRNs,

which go out and deal with

chemical, biological,

radiological and nuclear threats.

So it's sort of inspired by that.

Now, that said, the building behind me

is a complete hybrid, it isn't

Nothing exists like this in the

air force, in the army, or marines.

So, we made up our own version of it

to make it a little more Marvel-like.

What do we have up?

Radar, lidar, sodar, infrared.

Cycle through.

We're inside the pop-up base

monitoring the Hex,

which is what Darcy calls

the magical Wanda-world Westview area.

So, this is all different

kinds of m*llitary

and space-science people,

and then, there's my

little desk back there.

They gave her like

her own little corner,

um, where she's basically

cracked the "the magic".

So, you're saying the universe created

a sitcom starring two Avengers?

It's a working theory.

Darcy discovers that there's

basically an old television

signal emanating from the Hex,

from the anomaly.

And she goes, and she grabs an old TV

with a piece of rabbit ears on it,

and she picks up the TV show

that Wanda's broadcasting

out from the Hex.

So, what we do is, in each period

that Wanda iterates within the Hex,

we bring in those period TVs.

So you see late '50s,

'60s, '70s, and so on.

Everything might look fake in the TV,

but everything in there is real.

WORTHINGTON: What's fun

is just the contrast.

We started in this very,

sort of, light sitcom world,

which I had never designed

before, so that was fun.

But then, to then dive

right into, sort of,

straight-ahead MCU style,

visual style, acting style,

script, and all that,

just is delightful after

all of that, in a way,

just because, you know, "Is this

all in the same movie?" It is.

Which is great, but just

the design challenges

of having to go from that

to this, that's really fun.

We're at the town square

which is in Hollywood,

so basically, we see that in

six periods pretty extensively.

So much of it is a design challenge

to get all of that right,

to, sort of, express the period,

it's sort of unprecedented.

(APPLAUSE)

Part of the challenge is that we

don't have a sh**ting schedule

that allows us to sh**t for

two days, go away for two days,

turn it around, repaint, come back.

We're literally doing

overnight changeovers.

Which means that we

have to basically define

all of the design changes,

all the pieces you're gonna bring in,

design them, build them, paint

them, prefit them probably,

so you know exactly what you're doing,

and everything comes in almost

like LEGO in a certain way.

All these parts come in

and go up very quickly,

'cause you've only got, maybe, 12 hours

to complete this turnaround.

ALL: "For the children!"

(GRUNTS)

(LAUGHTER)

(LAUGHTER STOPS)

(WHOOSHING)

OLSEN: The experience

of doing the finale

when Wanda, she has to

run through town square,

and she's looking for Agnes, or Agatha,

and all of the people in

the town start to wake up,

and surround her, and crowd her almost,

like, begging her to let them go.

- I can't take this anymore, Wanda, please.

- (VOICES OVERLAPPING)

Please!

(CLAMORING)

(SCREAMS)

(WAILS)

It was a very long sequence.

It had quite a climax.

AGNES: I mean, who is

the boss here, Wanda?

Heroes don't t*rture people.

OLSEN: Getting to do a wide like that,

it feels like a piece of theater.

It felt really satisfying

to do emotionally, I think.

And it just felt epic, like the

There's some moments when these movies

just feel like so cinematic on the day,

and that just felt really grand.

(WANDA GRUNTS)

- WANDA: Go, now, all of you. Go!

- (MAN SHOUTS)

- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)

- MAN: Run!

What's so special about this script

is that you don't actually know

what is coming from where,

and who is actually the bad person,

and when someone has ulterior motives,

and what's actually happening.

So, sometimes you feel like,

"Well, Wanda is the

bad She's the villain.

She has turned all of these

people's lives upside down.

She's the villain".

Then, you find out that, well,

Agnes is pretty terrible. (CHUCKLES)

She's got her own thing that she's

been brewing the entire time,

and kinda counteracting,

counter-magicking Wanda.

And then you have, um, Hayward,

he's pretty not a very

good person. (CHUCKLES)

And he's got his own

agenda that's throwing

Everyone has their own agenda,

and what's great is that at some point,

you see it all clash and blow up

into an epic superhero fight,

might I say. (CHUCKLES)

Last one to town square is

a walking pair of mom jeans.

- burden!

- (GRUNTS)

(GRUNTS)

Usually, I'm like one of

the only flyers. (LAUGHS)

Like, I'm the only one on wires often.

That is something I do

a lot in these films.

(LAUGHTER)

I mean, it looks like a blast.

OLSEN: And so, I feel

like it's the first time

Marvel has had to accommodate

for so many flying sequences.

And it was a real challenge

I mean, Kathryn's in

a ridiculous costume

that is very uncomfortable

to harness and fly in.

But we all just, like,

we're always harnessed

(LAUGHS) like, for the last six weeks.

We've been harnessed quite

a bit, and it was so fun.

It was I love flying.

I love doing all the flying work,

I really, truly enjoy it so much.

But we I think it's the first time

I think Marvel's really had to create

a full fight sequence in the air.

(GRUNTS)

(CACKLING)

I think my most gratifying was

when I finally put on Agatha's hero look

and was able to be raised up in

those wires for the first time.

- OLSEN: You look amazing.

- You look amazing.

HAHN: And feel those huge fans on me,

even though it was like a hundred

and something degrees outside.

It was like crazy just to feel

all the work of all these people

that had gone into collaborating,

into helping make her.

You're supposed to be a myth.

A being capable of spontaneous creation,

and here you are, using it

to make breakfast for dinner!

To play the good and the bad,

to play the wicked and the playful,

and to play a villain that's also funny,

it's the best.

There's more. I want it all.

OLSEN: When you're on these big films,

and you get all those pieces moving

that are in the world's control,

it feels really special.

Thanks for the lesson

but I don't need you

to tell me who I am.

The features, as you know, set

a very high bar for the look,

and for the effects to

supplement the story,

not overwhelm the story.

That same mandate for the features

was absolutely what they were wanting

to achieve for the streaming service.

Vision himself, he's

a digital prosthetic.

Poor Paul, we paint him purple,

and he has to go through

the day like that.

But otherwise, all the rest

of that is a digital effect.

Every time Vision's synthezoid,

that he's got a CG face,

(CHUCKLES) so we would

go back to Matt and say,

"Do you know, for this b*at,

does he really need to be synthezoid?

Could he be human?"

And Matt and Jac would

often come back with,

"Well, he's his true self.

You know, when he's in his home,

we want specific beats to be synthezoid

even though they're visual effect sh*ts,

just because it's who he is

when he's at home with Wanda".

So, we let the story determine

when we'd use the visual effects.

So when we translated Red

Vision into black and white,

he didn't really look like Vision.

We did tests using footage

from the previous films

as my first week on the job.

We knocked on a colorist's

door and said,

"Can we come and see

what he looks like?"

And we quickly realized

he would have to be blue.

UNDERDAHL: During the '50s and '60s,

actresses would actually

use blue makeup,

blue lipstick so their

lips would appear red.

And lo and behold, we

did the same with Paul,

found the right, uh, shade of

blue during some camera tests,

did a little additional

tweaking in the DI

and found a really good target.

What we got to was a place where

we really keep the performance.

Paul is Vision,

and so what we end up doing is

kind of painting out his ears,

and augmenting and

tracking CG onto his body,

but that's him.

UNDERDAHL: Wanda's

world is her safe haven,

so when the Hex takes

over the m*llitary base,

it turns into a happy thing, into a

a kind of absurd thing almost,

which is the circus, which is fun.

For visual effects, it wasn't

necessarily a complicated thing.

You sh**t the A side, then

you sh**t the B side,

and then you augment each.

We knew that the Hex

had to be a boundary

that kept the townspeople in,

but that was mysterious to

the people on the outside.

We decided early that it

would be more mysterious

if it was an invisible Hex.

And so it helped build tension

and we got to make it look quite cool.

We looked at all different manners

of film boundaries in the past

and decided that we wanted our Hex

to have the language of television.

So, we studied how magnets were

drawn on old CRT televisions

and the magnetization you

would get across the screen,

the pixelization you would get

when you zoomed way into an old TV.

The cathodic lines or those

skinny lines that you would see

in NTSC old, square TVs.

And so we went to photography,

and we found our favorite images

for what this boundary could be,

using the language of television.

Westview was meant to

be Wanda's idyllic town,

so that was a touchstone.

Everything about Wanda's home inside,

outside, and the town they live in,

came from this concept that she

recreated the reality she wanted

from her childhood, from

those television shows.

Really, it's executing a vision

to the standard that

Wanda would have wanted.

As far as TV goes,

there is an argument that

Avengers and the Marvel MCU

is the largest episodic

experiment ever, right?

Because it's like these shows

that then have spin-offs

that are interconnected

and then different

Until we culminate.

Spirits lifted.

BETTANY: It has always

been episodic storytelling,

so that didn't feel

that different for me.

What feels different is the

focus on Wanda and Vision,

which is really nice

after all this time.

OLSEN: I think the beauty

of what Jac Schaeffer,

and Mary Livanos, Matt,

and Feige put together

was a story that can only be

told in the medium of television.

And the way we're telling

it is a complete conversation

of American sitcom

hitting against the Marvel

Cinematic Universe.

For Marvel to take the opportunity

to do a television show,

and for the first show to come

out to be an actual love song

to American sitcoms,

is so perfect, and it's so perfect

for Wanda's character.

d*ck Van d*ke again? Always

"sitcom, sitcom, sitcom"

The thing that I really loved

at the end of the journey

is, I think it's the first time

Wanda has really accepted who she is

and actually puts to bed so much pain.

And we find her finally

having peace and being okay.

I can't feel you.

I'm so excited now that we've

cracked open this other part of her,

so that there hopefully could

be more stories to tell.

It's been such a gift,

and so I really loved doing

this show. (CHUCKLES)

Cut.

MAN: That is a wrap on Lizzy.

VISION: I've never experienced loss

because I've never had

a loved one to lose.

But what is grief

if not love persevering?