Interviewing Mrs. Cobie Smulders aka S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill from AVENGERS

By Leslie Pleasants

I was so excited when I found out that I was going to be able to interview Cobie Smulders.  We all know her from the hit tv show “How I Met Your Mother” but now she is playing in this incredible movie that is going to be the hit of the year.. The AVENGERS!

She walked into the room just so comfortable.  I think because she is a mom and around our age that she felt right at home.  She was just so friendly and laughing with us.  It was very relaxing and still I couldn’t believe she was right in front of me.   She did point out my dress and said “Look at you!”.  I take that as a compliment.  :)

   

Q: Tell us about your character Maria Hill?

Cobie Smulders:  Maria Hill works at S.H.I.E.L.D.  She’s a very high ranking officer and she’s sort of works directly under Nick Fury.  She sort of commands the Hellcarrier and she’s also a bit of a task master and it’s funny.  When I got this role, I started reading all the comic books and also all the blogs, and what anyone had to say about the character.  I was trying to learn as much as I could.  And she’s like described as like the biggest bitch in the universe.  [LAUGHTER]

Like if you’re in a powerful position, you get labeled a bitch.  But if a man is in that position, he’s just got to do his job.  Yeah so it was kind of cool to approach a role with that kind of stigma behind it, and just kind of own it in a sense and just be like, this is especially with Maria Hill in the way that she works with Nick Fury.  Nick Fury is sort of, um, he follows his gut instincts a lot, I mean the the whole beginning of this movie, he’s sort of like the Avengers initiative is sort of what this whole movie is about.  And it’s about bringing all of these super heroes together, and it’s sort of a emergency basis only.  Maria Hill sees that as a huge threat.  I mean, even to have Hulk on the Hellcarrier alone is a bad idea, puts humans lives at risk.

So she sort of butts head with him, but in, in kind of a great way.  Like she kind of brings him back down to Earth, but they have this awesome arc of their relationship, and by the end she sort of sees why he’s breaking the S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Q: Since it’s an action movie, do you have a lot of stunts you had to do, what was the craziest?

Cobie Smulders:  Yeah, well the cool thing was, first of all when I got the part, I hadn’t even read the script.  And then I got the script after I did a chemistry a test with Sam Jackson.  And then I read the script, I thought I was literally going to be like making a latte for Nick Fury, or like on the computer screen, you know, in the background.  And it was really cool to read that I had a lot to do and then it just kind of grew more and more.

And the beginning of this film sort of opens with this huge car chase sequence and I want to say like the hardest thing to do was probably that, actually.  Because I’d never done driving, but like driving under extraordinary circumstances.  Where it felt like this is so girlie.  But it felt like sort of dance choreography where you’re like driving and they’re like and then a car hits you from the sides.  Then you move your body this way and then you jam into it, into second gear.

And then you take your gun and hit the windshield and you shoot out the windshield and then you run out of bullets so you throw the gun down.  And then you peel the tires and you’re like, what?  And they’re like and go.  [LAUGHTER] I know I turn, so it’s somewhere, so it was sort of hard to physicalize that and turn my brain off.  And, and not like you just had to like kind of do it and get it in your body a few times and then it was okay.  So that was really the most challenging because it was also like me being driven, you know, being pulled by another car.

And I’m like, going like five miles an hour, you know, and I’m supposed to be just like cruising, I mean I did get to do some of my own like fast paced driving, but that was probably the hardest.  But I, I came into this part and I wanted to do so much, so I did all this training.  I was boxing three times a week, and I was training in Martial Arts, doing some Tai, um, Tai Kwon Do and Jujitsu and, um, and hired a guy out of L.A. who actually trains SWAT teams to get more familiar with weapons and to feel comfortable holding them and to shooting them, which I’d never done before. So I wanted to be ready for anything and I was happy that they gave me some stuff to do.  Especially not being a super hero, you know, yeah.

 

Q: What would you say in the film appeals to families?

Cobie Smulders:  You know what I like about this film is it’s kind of a dysfunctional family, like it’s the way that these- all these sort of separate superheroes have to come together to succeed.  And I, I feel like there’s sort of like a team, a family dynamic within that- and it’s cool to see them rise above their personal issues.  And sort of accomplish the goal.

 

Q: What’s it like being one of the very few women in this movie?

Cobie Smulders:  It’s been really cool, you know, it’s really cool that Marvel is bringing in these strong females.  And especially with Maria Hill, it’s really cool to see a strong female that’s in a commanding position.  You know, I was so intrigued by it, you know, before I came and interviewed once and they were like, oh, does she know, it’s not that complex, you know, a character, and I don’t feel like your character is very complex, it’s like, this woman is like a high ranking officer.

She totally has like the hardest job in S.H.I.E.L.D.  And how did she get there?  That is to me is extremely interesting.  So, it’s, it’s been really cool to sort of add to the already I mean, as with Scarlett as with Gwyneth that she’d be like  in an authoritative role.

 

In the end we all had a great time and it was sad to have it end.  But we HAD to get ready to head out to go walk the red carpet.  In which I just happen to ride the elevator down with Robert Downey Jr.  So…  that kind of put the rest of the night in a star daze mode for me.  :)  What an AWESOME night!

Hope you all get a chance to watch the movie.  I bet you will enjoy it as much as I did!!

Thank you Mrs. Cobie Smulders!