Jeff Ward – Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

By starrymag | May 27, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been busy working on?

A) I’m about ninety percent done shooting a show for Netflix with a creator I’ve worked with before. I did a show called “Channel Zero” with a guy named Nick Antosca. He is a very brilliant writer. We just did a show about Hollywood in the 90’s. We shot it up in Vancouver, but it takes place in LA. We have two and a half weeks left to shoot, which we’re obviously waiting until we have the green light to do. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had working on anything. It’s very, very good. It’s Catherine Keener and Rosa Salazar and Eric Lange, who are all incredible in it. I’m very excited about that show. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last five months and it obviously got cut short. I’m also working on a movie and a couple of TV shows that I’m writing. So, I’m just trying to be busy as best I can.

Q) What can you tease is in store for Season 7 of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

A) First of all, it’s my favorite season of the show. I think that what the show does this year is…I think it has some of the most fun that the show has ever had, from a writing standpoint and a directing standpoint. Certainly, as actors. It was really, really fun to…I’m a time travel nut in fiction, but I’m particularly enamored by Back to the Future. Whitney, who is head of wardrobe, and I always really wanted to design Deke with Marty McFly in mind. We felt that was an important tonal jumping off point. All of Season Five I have these grey high-top sneakers that when I get to the present time that were fully inspired by Marty’s lace-up sneakers. I was so excited that we found them. Then, it was super cool because this year obviously we start back in the 30’s. Getting to mess with time travel this year was very, very fun and it lends itself to…[laughs] I can’t say anything. It’s very, very fun.

Q) What have been some of your favorite costumes you’ve gotten to wear in Season 7 or in the past?

A) Seven has all the best ones for everyone. Seven just has some really cool stuff. The first couple episodes the clothes that I’m wearing are actually antiques from the 30’s. So, that was pretty awesome to wear this real vintage stuff that was almost a hundred years old. And in such good condition! I was really partial when I entered the show and I had that helmet that looked like a mashup of Iron Man and The Rocketeer. I always loved that. I tried to keep that when the show ended, but it did not work out.

Q) What did you think when you found out Iain [De Caestecker] and Elizabeth [Henstridge] are actually playing your grandparents?

A) Oh man! It was the greatest because I adore those two people very, very much. They are very special. They are wonderful human beings. They are extraordinarily talented actors and just on top of it wonderful people. [chuckles] Again, that Marty McFly mentality of him knowing what they didn’t know was such a fun thing for me to play. Then, I found it was very emotional when Deke kind of revealed to Simmons that he was their grandkid. Everything that made Deke a hardass where he comes from, because he didn’t have a family and he never was loved by anyone and he was kind of on his own and his mom died when he was young and his father died, he was betrayed…So, there is a lot of heinous stuff that happened to Deke that I feel when he got to the present and had a family all of a sudden that kind of led to his dramatic change in attitude and kind of awakened a dormant part of his personality up until then. It just created such a fun dynamic with Elizabeth and Iain always in all of the scenes we got to do because we really had this connection and that plays more out over Season 7. Obviously, this is a bit off track, but I feel like I know it’s out there now that Elizabeth directed her first episode and that was incredible to get to work with her as Simmons. It’s actually one of the most nervous I’ve been the whole time because I didn’t want to mess up for her. I wanted to do well for her. [laughs]

Q) How do you think Deke feels about having to forcibly time travel again just as he had somewhat adjusted to life in the future?

A) Well, weirdly, I feel like it’s an even playing field finally. As much as he loved and has built a really nice world for him in the present, I think that he’s really enjoying the fact that he can look to Coulson (Clark Gregg) or Daisy (Chloe Bennet) or to Mack (Henry Simmons) and be like, “It’s crazy, right?!” [chuckles] So, it was fun to kind of feel like we were all operating out of the same place again rather than them always dealing with Deke as a fish out of water. Now they are all a fish out of water. That was kind of fun. I think Deke enjoyed that.

Q) After breaking down in Season 6 and admitting that he thinks everyone hates him, how has Deke grown as a character going into Season 7?

A) I was really excited about that scene when I read it because, to me, it really made me understand a lot of things about Deke and a lot of motivations for his actions and why he is the way he is. As I was kind of just saying, he comes from a place where he wasn’t loved by anyone and nobody cared about him. Then, he was thrown into this other situation where he finally had a beacon of hope in terms of being cared about and someone loving him and they just tortured him. All of his new family just tortured him and rightfully so! He did a bunch of crazy, stupid stuff. So, I think that moment is a very big turning point for him in terms of everyone else knowing what he is all about and also, I think him knowing what he is all about. I think that revelation kind of snuck up on him. I think it’s good because going into Season 7 he was at a place of a bit more self-awareness and a bit more growth. I think he continues on that track.

Q) Have you had much of an input in how Deke has continued to grow as a character?

A) We talked a lot about it. Jed [Whedon] and Maurissa [Tancharoen] and Jeff Bell and myself – we had a bunch of meetings about it. There were times in Season 6 that Deke got a little insane. [chuckles] Jed, in particular, one night called me and we had a really long talk about it. That was kind of what led to the scene that you referred to at the end of Season 6. He’s gone down this path and what was the pathos that led him there. That’s kind of what those guys came up with after we talked. It’s really cool because I always feel the writers, particular Marissa and Jed, are so open to us collaborating on what these characters are and I’ve felt that since the very beginning with Deke. I felt like they’ve always been super open to what I could bring to the character and my thoughts on the character. I really think it makes for better characters when writers are open to collaborating with their actors. Particularly when stuff is changing and it can go in many, many directions. So, I’m very grateful for that with “Shield.” They are always open to it.

Q) What can you tease is a favorite episode you filmed or one to look out for this season?

A) Season 7, Episode 7. 707. That’s the one. It’s called The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and The Deke. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever shot anywhere. It was my favorite episode I did on “Shield.”

Q) What can you share about the premise for the episode?

A) [chuckles] I’ll just say that sincerely it was my favorite filming experience I had on “Shield.” Henry Simmons was a dream scene partner and is so funny in the episode. He really…I will say that you get to have a really good look at Mac and Deke’s relationship through some extenuating circumstances and I think the results are really fun. Going back to your question about the writers and us having input, one of the best things they do is they just kind of listen to us as actors and as people because we’re all friends and we end up hanging out. They kind of write to those strengths and one thing that happened was when in Season 6 that is the episode where Deke comes back and you see his company. You kind of see what he’s been up to between Season 5 and Season 6. Mark Kolpack, our visual effects designer, directed that episode and he did a great job. When Mark and Henry and I were filming the scene…There is a scene where Mack finds on a computer that there is a digital recreation of Daisy that I’ve been spending my time with – a sort of “enhanced” version of Daisy that I’ve been spending time with. We did this shot where we are both looking at the screen and then we both slowly pull away from the screen. Then, Henry very slowly stands up. He’s about a foot and a half taller than me, so the image of us very slowly as he kept growing in size of us just squaring off against each other…[laughs] We could barely film it without us cracking up. It took us like ten tries. It was so funny and it was kind of the first of this Odd Couple friendship between Mack and Deke. 707 is pretty much entirely about their friendship. It’s an enormously exciting episode. I love it.

Q) What was a favorite scene you’ve shared with Iain over the years?

A) Oh, of course. Honestly, every single one I do with Iain he’s so phenomenal. He’s so good. I’ll tell you a quick story that is my favorite scene and I’m not in the scene in the show. They cut a bunch of it, but there is a scene where we’re playing catch with each other and we’re really mad at each other. That was a very fun scene. Any time Fitz and Deke are made at each other it’s so fun because Iain and I are very, very close friends. We had so much fun hating each other. It’s great. I did a scene in Season 5 with Iain where the doctor comes back. The doctor comes back and he is terrorizing everyone and nobody knows what is going on. You find out that essentially, it’s Fitz doing all the terrorizing because the doctor is still part of his psyche and that darkness is still there. It’s kind of the Fight Club So, when we were filming that, Iain had to do a bunch of scenes with himself. I don’t think I’ve ever told this story. He was doing this scene with himself and we had this incredible setup where the monitor was in front of you and you could see live how the doctor version of Iain had just been filmed so that the new fit version of Iain could be filmed and they would look really synchronized. It was really unbelievable and super cool. While he was doing that, he had to have all these scenes where he’s talking to himself. So, I came in and I read the off-camera bit as the doctor. It’s just a piece of shoulder that is in the scene. It’s actually my shoulder wearing Iain’s clothing. We were doing a bunch of those scenes but there were certain scenes where the camera had to be locked off and couldn’t move. Those scenes I had to be off camera and he had to be looking at his face to do those scenes where he is reacting with himself and I was off to the side. We were doing this one scene and it was the moment where Fitz realizes that he’s done all of these terrible things. So, Iain as Fitz – talking to no one – finds out…I give him the line that he is doing this and he realizes that it’s true, Iain started shaking and teared up. He cried and a tear came down his face as he was looking at himself, which was nothing. He looks at himself and he started shaking and I had the last line. He just kept starring shaking with the tear coming down his face. Right before they called “cut” he looked over to me at the side and he smiled and winked. [laughs] Then, he walked off. I was like, “I cannot believe that you are such a good actor that you can do that” and it drove me crazy. And I hate him for that because it was an unbelievable performance and he gave me a cheeky little wink at the end of it. That was my favorite.

Q) The cast has grown so close over the years. I am sure you are all going to desperately miss working together.

A) The new show is called “Brand New Cherry Flavor” and to just to go into it right after “SHIELD” it was a very different experience. It was really wonderful in its own right. It’s a completely different show and I loved that experience for very different reasons. But it made me realize how much of a family everyone had become. I was only there, obviously, the last three seasons. But everybody had become so close. Everyone in the crew. Everyone in the cast…We were spending more time with each other than anyone else in our lives. So, it just became an easy and really wonderful work environment. Now that is gone, there is always something you appreciate in hindsight. As much as I really did my darndest to appreciate it the whole time as much as I could. But you definitely miss those people and that experience. It was such a unique experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever be on a show again that goes for seven seasons. I cherished it as much as I could and I definitely miss it.

Q) Were you able to snag any memorabilia that meant a lot to you?

A) I maybe was able to get my original leather jacket. Marvel called me. I cannot confirm nor deny if I have that jacket. I might have gotten one of those. I got a bunch of Deke’s cooler, crazier shirts and jackets. [laughs] It’s some stuff I never would have really gotten. And I got to keep my prize collection from Deke – those original Jordans that he got in Season 6. They are just so fantastic that I hardly ever wear them. They just sit in the closet and make me happy.

Q) What have you personally taken away from your time working on this special series?

A) [sighs] It is a heavy question because it was such an unexpected landing spot for me that I grew to just adore. I feel like getting to work with people that really felt like family…It’s kind of an overused, trope-y expression, I think. I know that the entertainment industry people use that a lot. With just the sheer amount of time that you spend together makes for such a comfortable environment. I don’t think there was one morning that I had to wake up at 4AM that I dreaded having to go to work. It was always really fun and I really appreciate that so much, just on a personal level. Just how much of a joyous experience generally it was. Personally, I just feel like I had not done very much comedy before. I had mainly done very dark dramas. I had played Charles Manson in a movie. I had done psychopaths and killers and stuff like that. When I first got Deke, he didn’t have much of a sense of humor, but we kind of built it in. Even over the first couple of episodes. That is something that I realized how much I love doing comedy and how much I loved getting to kind of improvise the general feeling. I got to have an effect on it in a funny way. That was so fun and I feel like I really fell in love with comedy on “Agents of SHIELD.”

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and this wonderful series?

A) My goodness! First of all, thank you. I never would have been on the show had it not been the crazy amount of love and support that the show has had from the very beginning. Because the entire reason the show exists is because of the fans. And the entire reason the show kept going was because of the fans. It’s a really cool experience when ever I meet someone who is a fan of the show. I’ve never met someone who loved “SHIELD” that was mean or not a cool person. [laughs] Everybody is always very sweet and the show means a lot to them, which I understand because the show means a lot to me, too. I feel that for the fans, we have something that we share in the love and the joy of this show being made. I truly do. The only thing I have is gratitude. I’m just so thankful. Everybody that hated Deke at first, hopefully I’m winning them over slowly but surely. In any event, just gratitude. I’m so grateful.