WandaVision: 30 Behind The Scenes Facts You NEED To Know

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After a gap of nearly 2 years, Marvel Studios have kick-started phase 4 of a new saga with  Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen’s WandaVision. Using 4 genres, Marvel created a perfect blend of sitcom, superhero, mystery, and drama. It’s been nearly 3 weeks since the series’ thrilling nine-episode run ended.  One of the major mysteries about the series was the sudden reappearance of Bettany’s Vision, who died in Avengers: Infinity War. 

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At the end of WandaVision, we witnessed Wanda discovering that she is the Scarlet Witch, a fabled sorceress with immense powers. Doctor Strange and his friends used to be the only characters in the MCU realm dabbling in the mystical arts. WandaVision suggests the world of magic may be larger than it previously appeared. Let’s take you behind the scenes of the series which received massive love from MCU fans.

1. Elizabeth Olsen was super thrilled about WandaVision because her character was taking an exciting arc and she was finally getting to do what she wanted to do with her character

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2. When Marvel Studios invited Paul Bettany to tell him about WandaVision, he initially thought the meeting was being held to tell him that his time to bid Marvel Studios had come. The meeting was held right after Avengers: Infinity War which left Paul confused.

3. From the very first pitch for WandaVision, showrunner Jac Schaeffer “tracked the narrative according to the stages of grief.” So, while the episodes aren’t linear you could start with Episode 8 and still follow Wanda processing her grief.

4. A lot of visuals in the series were inspired by the Scarlet Witch Witches’ Road 15-issue comic series written by James Robinson.

5. Jac Schaeffer said that a lot of Wanda and Vision’s love story was inspired by their intimate scene in Captain America: Civil War where the duo was seen making paprikash together.

6. Jac Schaeffer’s original pitch for WandaVision included the “rewind” episode being in the style of CSI and an entire episode about Wanda’s work-life balance in the style of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

7. The first episode of the series was based on The Dick Van Dyke Show. To prep up for it, director Matt Shakman and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spent a day at Disneyland with Dick Van Dyke learning about the insights of his show. 

8. The red-skinned android, Vision wasn’t actually red when the black and white shots of the series were filmed. In order to get Vision’s skin color just right during the black-and-white episodes, Paul was actually painted bright blue.

9. The magic showed in the first episode had a lot of inspiration from the American sitcom Bewitched. All was achieved using rods, wires, and puppeteering.

10. Paul Bettany’s fondest memories from the show were “running around backstage” with Kathryn Hann and Elizabeth Olsen. Performing in front of a live audience apparently made the superhero super nervous.

11. Teyonah Parris was clueless about the role she was auditioning for as she was simply sent Geraldine/Monica moments from the ’70s episode. Before she even found out what her role would be, Teyonah hoped that it was Monica Rambeau.

12. Kathryn Hann was an instant pick of the casting directors. Kathryn claimed what drew her to the role was the “idea of working with Lizzie [Olsen]” and getting to showcase a female-driven story about grief.

13. When the entire cast did a read-through of the series’ script so that they would be aware of what was going on in the show, Kat Denning paid attention only to Darcy’s scenes because she wanted to be surprised, and she loved trying to figure things out as the episodes went on, like Darcy.

14. In episode 3 where a kiss between Vision and Wanda turns their surroundings into color, Lizzie and Paul had a moment which they like to refer to as a ‘Snotgate’. Apparently, a snot appeared on their lips, and neither of them admitted whose snot it actually was.

15. Elizabeth’s favorite sitcom-style they used in WandaVision was the ’70s where she loved the absurdity that came in with her 1 episode pregnancy. 

16. Jac Schaeffer had it in the back of his mind that Evan Peters coming to WandaVision would set the internet in buzz and he had it planned for 2 years.

17. The small nods to Full House in the opening credits of Episode 5 were a way for the show to honor “Lizzie growing up just behind the camera on that show.”

18. The studios had the very best Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez on board for writing the super catchy theme songs of WandaVison. The duo has written some notable hits of films like Frozen, Coco, and Frozen 2

19. Kristen and Robert claim that the theme songs included the same “musical signature” and they had a lot of fun hiding the same melody in every single song

20. So, since each theme song shared a common “musical signature,” Kristen explained that is why audiences felt “ready” when “Agatha All Along” appeared, because we’d heard different versions of the same melody in six different songs before it.

21. All the scenes featured in “Agatha All Along” were planned out from the very start. In the middle of shooting a very “stylized sitcom moment” production would yell, “Okay, now for ‘Agatha All Along,'” and Kathryn Hahn would have to film a small moment.

22. Matt Shakman came up with the bizarre idea of  Agatha having a picnic on the front lawn when fake Pietro arrived only “two minutes” before they shot the original scene.

23. The shooting schedule of the series ran very tight all along. Due to which the production team once had to change the decade in the Westview Town Square overnight before the filming of the next episode began the following day.

24. The VFX team of the series claims to have created “The Hex” using the language of TVs. It is made up of what it looks like to zoom in on an old TV.

25. Paul Bettany told Jac that Vision’s speech needed, “to be somehow about the purpose of grief and that grief isn’t all bad.” They then came up with the iconic “What is grief, if not love persevering?” line for the speech.

26. Elizabeth Olsen was very thoughtful with Scarlet Witch’s costume design. She gave a lot of inputs and tested out if she could do all of Wanda’s “moves” and made sure it felt comfortable.

27. The first time the production team saw Olsen in Scarlet Witch’s costume was in a field across from the sound stages where the S.W.O.R.D base was set up. She had to be covered with umbrellas and cloaks in order to be safe from paparazzi lenses.

28. Jack Schaeffer explained that one of the most important things that the team had in mind while planning WandaVision was that in the end, Wanda would not only accept that she had to say goodbye to Vision, but also she would accept becoming the Scarlet Witch.

29. Like most Marvel movies, WandaVision filmed multiple versions of the final post-credit scene where we see Wanda reading the Darkhold. Up until the finished episode, Lizzie and the producers had conversations about whether or not we should hear Billy and Tommy’s voices at the end.

30. While the story of WandaVision will directly connect to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Elizabeth Olsen was clueless about her part in the upcoming movie until she got back to filming WandaVision during the pandemic.

 

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Source: BuzzFeed

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Written by Muneer

Articles Published: 535

Muneer is an Indian writer at FandomWire who plans to visit all countries in this world to eat the food on their streets. Obsessed with joggers, he sings and plays the strings too.