On set report

via Media Club

Yesterday I headed over to the film set for the upcoming big-budget 2011 Marvel release, Captain America: The First Avenger, after receiving a sneaky tip from a friend that the filming was taking place near my house. After trekking through the Bourne Woods in Farnham, Surrey, for about 10 minutes we reached a perimeter which, due to health and safety reason (AKA massive explosions etc), we were not allowed to cross… so we didn’t. There were some tanks and some fellas chilling out in army uniforms, just then I noticed a man with a dirty blonde grown-out military haircut and I pointed for my friend to see. At this point a northern security woman tottered over to ask us if we were okay, to which we replied “yes”. We then began having a friendly chat to the woman about the location that has been previously used in Gladiator, Children of Men, Harry Potter, Wolfman and the more recent Robin Hood. We then asked her what was going on currently– with all the military vehicles and alike. At this point a rather serious looking gentleman came over and began to explain that the production was that of a upcoming World War 2 film with the ridiculous name ‘Frostbite’. We pretended to eat up his barrel of lies until he went on his busy way (which took all of 2 seconds). The security lady then seemed rather proud of their deception before she noticed us whispering and giggling– like girls. She once again asked us if we were ok; this was the point at which our visit turned. We responded by informing her that we knew it wasn’t ‘Frostbite’, she played dumb and asked us what we ‘thought’ we knew. “Well,” I began “that guy over there is watching a Captain America Tshirt, that massive sticker on that trailer has Captain America on it, that’s Hayley Atwell (the female lead in the film) and we just saw Chris Evans (the actor playing Steve Rogers AKA Cpatain America) walking past in the costume barely covered by a trench coat.” This did have a shocking effect on the security woman, and she rudely claimed that we knew more than she did. She took a few steps back and we continued to talk quietly amongst ourselves behind the barrier. About a minute later a tall man walked towards and told us we were being ‘a nuisance’ we apologised and told him we were unaware; he then continued and told us that he was calling the police and that we would be arrested. At this point I wondered on what charges this could take place, he continued to glare at us. “Manners cost nothing, my friend” I replied. He didn’t take too kindly to this recommendation and we walked off.

Basically, it was very exciting to see Chris Evans in costume, the film set is looking good and the production is obviously being taken very seriously (as it should because Captain America is awesome) and the shoot is being kept on the super-secret down-low but regrettably some of the crew are so far up their own ass that they really ruined my excitement about a film I have been hugely looking forward to. Truth be told that guy is a tosser, and I went home to make posters to inform the public that ‘Frostbite’ is a lie and that there was free entry to the set of Captain America.

The appearance of the gauntlet throws up some questions and predictions for the Thor and Avengers movie plots. The gauntlet was created by Thanos,

From Wiki:

Thanos mounts the six Infinity Gems, (collected in the The Thanos Quest limited series), on his left glove to form the Infinity Gauntlet, the focus of the title of the series. Each Gem grants its bearer complete mastery over one aspect of the universe: Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality, and Power.

/Film more importantly point out that, in the comics, Loki tries to attain the power of the gauntlet, by stealing the infinity gems. He also seeks the Cosmic Cube, which has been referenced in the Captain America footage; which would be a nice movie crossover prior to The Avengers. This ultimate power and cross-film villain makes a very strong case for Loki being The Avengers main villain. Thanos remains a strong possibility, as he too sought the cosmic cube.

Iron Man

When Pepper Potts walks in on Tony Stark being undressed by JARVIS’ robot arms, at around the 1h30 mark, in the background you can see a half complete shield that matches Captain America’s red, white and blue design. According to the exclusive Walmart comic book that came with the Iron Man DVD, Howard Stark (now rumored to appear in Iron Man 2) created the shield’s technology and Tony is using an old discarded prototype to create an alloy for his suit’s armor. This implies that, rather than creating the shield, Tony Stark is taking it apart, as previously rumored when the shield was first spotted.

The Incredible Hulk

On the 3-disc special edition DVD there is a cut scene set in the snowy north where Bruce Banner goes to commit suicide, before turning into The Hulk and starting an avalanche. As the snow crumbles you can just about make out the outline of a human body and shield, meant to be Steve Rogers frozen in suspended animation, first spotted by Film School Rejects.

Other hat tips to Captain America include mention of the WWII ‘supersoldier serum’ created by Dr. Reinstein, as injected into Emil Blonsky. Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier comments on this (IGN):

I wanted to address because I thought it was fun. But like Dr. Reinstein and Vita Rays, that actually was done on the day because we wanted the super serum. And the prop master said, “What do you want me to do with this?” And I said, “OK. Give me the serum.” And he said, “What color should the serum be?” I said, “Blue like Captain America and I want the cap for the vile to be red like Captain America.” And he said, “What do you want me to put on the sticker?” And I gave him Dr. Reinstein and Vita Rays;

The appearance is at 2:25 in this video, not that you can really see it in this quality: