“WandaVision” actress Kathryn Hahn recently revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that “WandaVision” had a live studio audience for its first episode, and how it impacted the show.
What’s going on?
Hahn, who will play the cheery neighbor Agnes in “WandaVision,” told The Hollywood Reporter she had to change her responses and her acting because of the live studio audience that was there for filming.
“Yeah, you’ve gotta hold for a laugh, but what was exciting to us was that there were laughs. Jac’s writing walks such a great fine line, tone wise, and Matt’s direction is so taut. His patience, his integrity, his faith and his trust in an audience — I just think he’s incredible. The trick of that ’50s episode in front of an audience — at least for me, comedy wise — is that it’s so easy to be such a cynic. It’s so easy to just want to make fun of something, or get on the outside of something and parody it or satirize it. Roles for women aside, and the social mores of the time aside, there was something about the comedy of being in that ’50s sitcom that felt very earnest, and there’s something very refreshing about that.”
The live studio audience was mostly friends and family. But Hahn said she didn’t have any family or friends in attendance for filming.
“No, no one. I wanted to keep it all a surprise. So I was very lonely.“
What it was like
Vision actor Paul Bettany told the ReelBlend Podcast (via Comicbook) that the live studio audience allowed the show to film on a quicker schedule, which left a lot of time to film the bigger action sequences later in the season.
“It was so much fun, and there was a practical reason for it, which is you’re trying to have exactly the same production values as you would in one of the movies. So being able to shoot one episode in two days and really curtail the amount of time you’re spending on those early episodes — and shooting them as they would have been shot in the 1950s, with three-camera setups and through sets that are built on a stage with an audience — you get through it really quickly. And then you’re able to bank that time to shoot the action.”