'Infinity War' Cast Q&A Transcript | Countdown To 'Avengers: Infinity War'

"Are you going to be in Avengers 4?"

Last night every single Avenger took to L.A. for the world premiere of Avengers: Infinity War - a movie set to make the biggest box office debut of all time. Before they arrived to the red carpet, though, they all sat down en masse for a press junket Q&A hosted by the Grand Master himself Jeff Goldblum. The following is a transcript of the event as filmed by Collider:

GOLDBLUM: Thank you for coming everybody, thank you very, very much. So nice to see you, so nice to see you. In any case, a big movie like this calls for a grand, uh, affair like this for a press conference and that's why, I guess, I'm here in my Grand Master of Ceremonies colours, because I'm going to facilitate this hour long conference, in which I hope you all leave deeply satiated. Because they're all here, believe it or not, and so without further ado, what the heck is behind our curtain?

[A large avengers curtain at the front of the room falls to reveal every member of the Avengers alongside the film's directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Marvel Studio's head Kevin Feige is also there] 

GOLDBLUM: Wow! Wow, look at that! Kevin Feige, look at all of them! Hi Pom, hi Anthony Mackie - oh Tom Hiddleston woah! Okay so this is a, uh, you've seen this from many a gameshow [Goldblum refers to a hopper in front of him containing a large amount of ping pong balls]. They call this, you know what they call this? I just discovered this yesterday, this is a Hopper. Now I'm gonna take a ping pong ball and on these balls are people's names, uh, and if you have a question for one of those people I will call on you, that's when you raise your hands, or there may be a category, that will suggest one of the people up here for which you have a question from which I will choose - you get the idea. [Turns to the bingo hopper] 

Alright, let's see, oh- oh my gosh. My gosh, Robert Downey Jr.! Does anybody have a question for Robert Downey Jr.? Yes! Yes Sir I saw your hand go up first!

REPORTER: Are you going to be in Avengers 4?

DOWNEY JR. [IRON MAN]: Kevin [Feige]? Wait, hold on a second, he's nodding his head but let's see what he whispers in my ear...Yes! We already filmed it! Which I guess means that...well, you never know. I, I gotta see in the screening tomorrow. If I die tomorrow I'm gonna be confused. We'll see.

GOLDBLUM: Excellent question, excellent answer. Okay, let's see...alright...alright. [Removing a ball from the hopper] Okay, I'm going in blind, I'm not looking! This says, ooh, oh this says, this is a category so you can ask anybody a question who is from Wakanda!

REPORTER: My name is Maggie and I'm from Disney. I'm also a Math teacher from Los Angeles and my question is for Letitia [Wright]. So, I use a lot of Marvel content in my lessons to keep my students engaged, and I was wondering how you see your role as a really powerful and fun woman on screen in Math and Science as inspiring kids and teens to pursue STEM fields.

WRIGHT [SHURI]: Wow, I think you kinda covered it...um...yeah I'm..it's something that's super new to me, um, to play this character and to have a character who's just interested in all of these amazing subject maters, um, I wish I had a Shuri on TV or in the movies that I could see when I was growing up and I would have stayed in my Maths classes a little bit longer. But I'm really happy that the film, and this character Shuri, has allowed young kids to feel like learning is cool and that they can contribute to the world with, you know, Science and Maths and technology and Engineering and also young women as well getting pulled into that whole movement of feeling like it's not just a thing for the guys.

It's also for the young women, old women, you know, anyone, to just get into and contribute positively to so, to have that and for you to use it in your classroom and for many other people to use it...I'm super grateful and I just hope it continues and, yeah it's positive and it's good and it's, it's a good thing so thank you.

GOLDBLUM: A very beautiful question and a very beautiful answer. [Retrieving a ball from the hopper] Um, ooh, Don Cheadle!

REPORTER: Hi, Mark Hughes with Forbes and I'm wondering, in terms of each character's arc being served in Infinity War, your character obviously had somewhat of a tragic arc last time we saw him in Civil War, can we talk about-

CHEADLE [WAR MACHINE]: Thanks, Vision. [Paul Bettany laughs]

REPORTER: Can you talk a bit about preparing for Infinity War and carrying over that as something that... all the characters have tragedies and things in their lives but your character is having to deal with something very immediate to overcome on top of everything that has to be faced here.

CHEADLE: Well what I think is really great about having something like this in a way to anchor a lot of the other things that are happening in the story and getting to continue it forward through, uh, both of the films is that, you know, we get to, we always get to have these down sort of notes in a good way. I think there's always a lot of eye candy and very dramatic things happening and big spectacular fights and really amazing things that we see on screen, and then it comes down to these characters and their interpersonal, uh, situations with one another and their personal journeys that they have.

Where it comes to Rhodey, I'm glad that this is something that's carried through and isn't just dropped. It's a line that is, uh, it actually goes through both films and comes into play in a very important way, I won't give it away, but it's something that factors in all the way through. So it's nice to have something that's cohesive and continues and keeps me grounded and keeps the character grounded.

GOLDBLUM: Hmm...going in blind...going in blind...[removes a ball from the hopper]. Hey! So you can ask a question if you have a question for somebody who wears a cape!

REPORTER: I have a question for Chris Hemsworth because I am a big Thor fan. What scene did you find most challenging to film for this movie and why? Was it because of the people in it? Was it because of the directors? Anything like that.

HEMSWORTH [THOR]: It was a very difficult thing because of the directors and...everyone in this film. It's an awful experience. Myself, Jeff and Tom, we're going back to our own movies from now on. Um, the most difficult...well - the first day was, what you've seen in the trailers was Thor meeting the Guardians and it felt like, kind of, first day of school for me, you know? They all knew each other and I was the new kid. They'd all been shooting and I hadn't. It's a weird sort of, nervous, butterflies floating all around of my body. [Laughs] It was...well I squeezed them out of me, you know, Chris Pratt gave me a big hug and all the butterflies flew out of my ears and, uh, we had [laughs].

This whole film for me, I felt like a fan and meeting a lot of these people whose characters I had watched on screen and admired...and so to be on screen with them as Thor but also as Chris was pretty damn exciting. 

GOLDBLUM: Mhmm...mhmmm... [removes a ball from the hopper] ah! Kevin Feige!

REPORTER: What, if there's anything you use to ground these movies in their origins, beyond just the characters. I mean anything visually, if there's anything you've used thematically to sort of pull this together?

FEIGE [MARVEL STUDIOS HEAD]: Well, it's, it's, you won't be surprised to hear, it's the comics! It's the comics that we look at. When there is just the notion of "Let's do an Iron Man movie" or "Let's have the audacity to do a version of the Infinity Gauntlet" it starts with those comics and us beginning to rip pages out or rip copies of pages out...um...put them on the walls and start to be inspired. And in every single movie we have made up to, and especially, Infinity War, there are direct images, story lines...rarely but sometimes actual lines of dialogue that we put up around our development room for inspiration.

And with, and with Infinity War in particular, where there're so many characters and so many threads from story lines from movies that we could have pulled from and used for inspiration - and we did - we went back. And I think we've released some behind the scenes videos and things and you can see the giant omnibus of the Infinity Gauntlet there with all sort of, dog-eared pages and post-its in there for all sorts of moments. And when you see the movie we can talk more specifically about exactly what moments those were - most of them revolved around Mr. Brolin's Thanos portrayal that came directly from Jim Starlin's work there. So it's always a guiding point, it's a north star for us, as we lead these giant productions into reality right from those books, from where it all started. 

GOLDBLUM: You're to ask a question, or volunteer to be considered for being called on for a question, if you, if you are green!

REPORTER: This is a question for Zoe Saldana, because this is, from what we've heard this is a story told from Thanos's point of view, and obviously I wanted to know how that dimension pushed your portrayal of Gamora forward because obviously it's a very emotional, psychological journey for her. So if you could talk about that?

SALDANA [GAMORA]: Well, echoing what Don was saying that, besides these kinds of movies carrying so much action and entertainment and visual effects that really cater to all of our senses, we wouldn't be what we are, I think, in the Marvel Universe if we didn't have all of these emotional beats that all of these interpersonal relationships carry. And, um, and that, obviously in this film, in that thread, involves a relationship between parent and child, and, um, and I will speak on behalf of, also, Karen Gillan's performance of Nebula. We had so much fun with the arc that the Russo brothers and, obviously, Kevin Feige spear-heading this, with the relationship that these daughters have with their father, because they finally get an opportunity to sort of address what it was like to have a Dad that's so...complicated. So it was, it was fantastic. It was great.

GOLDBLUM: Oh my gosh, so, nobody could've fore-saw this! I think this may be, well I don't know...this is Zoe Saldana! [Laughs]

REPORTER: Zoe, my question is, um, you kind of, we get to see you first, and then you get to see everybody as Black Panther has happened. People of colour joining in these super-hero roles, and you were just so trend-setting and so ground-setting for me to see somebody like you on-screen, and so to see the Black Panther universe added in I was overwhelmed. How do you feel knowing that we, as people of colour, are receiving more representation in this Marvel Universe.

SALDANA: I'm, I'm happy! I'm super, super happy to be an American right now, to be in the entertainment industry, to be considered a public figure, and to be also be given these opportunities by leaders such as these studio heads. When they take on the task of broadening the narrative for our stories it's, um, it's plain and simple. I think that as actors regardless of our race and our gender we just want to be given an equal opportunity to be able to be chameleons and to continue growing and connecting with our audiences. So, when directors and writers and producers understand that change has to come from within, and, as public figures, we have the responsibility to take the lead in broadening that narrative. It just makes someone like me, who would be nothing but a positive recipient, super happy, because I know what that means for our future generations. I have three sons and nothing is making me happier - I keep saying happy but it's true- to know that they are receiving an influx of storytelling through media that represents them, and makes them feel seen and heard, and that their lives and their heritage matters. But only through their merits. So I'm just really happy about that.

GOLDBLUM: Benedict...Cumberbatch! Benedict...

REPORTER: Mr Cumberbatch, you have said in a few interviews that you have read the script, but the Russo brothers have said that no actor has read the real, final script, so I just want to get to the bottom of that. Thank you so much.

CUMBERBATCH [DR. STRANGE]: I read a script. Whether I read the script is for them to know and for me to find out when I see the film tomorrow. But whatever script you read it's never the film, is it, so it always changes. And these guys plus every day, sometimes after the day, sometimes we'll be probably re-plussing this in December even after the film is out, um, they never stop. This wheel-house is a busy place to work, so whatever I read is not necessarily what you're gonna see, so I could tell you stuff about it but it wouldn't make any difference.

GOLDBLUM: I, I, I knew it! I don't know how I knew it! Chadwick Boseman.

REPORTER: Hi Chadwick, I know we have to wait a long time for Black Panther 2 but, how much of Avengers: Infinity War is at least Black Panther 1.5

BOSEMAN [BLACK PANTHER]: Um, [laughs] uh, Avengers: Infinity War is Avengers: Infinity War. It's not Black Panther 1.5 or Black Panther 2 or anything like that. I think we have a strong presence within the movie and it was great to have some of these people, I wont say who exactly, in Wakanda, but this was it's own movie. It was great to go from what we did in Black Panther and to bring some of it into Avengers was a...a relief actually. But it's its own thing.

GOLDBLUM: Anthony...Anthony Russo!

REPORTER: Anthony Russo, my question is will we see Agent Coulson come back for the Avengers?

GOLDBLUM: All of these un-answerable questions...

A. RUSSO [DIRECTOR]: Um, we um, when we began developing this movie, you know, we sat in a room with Kevin, Joe and I, Markus and McFeely, the writers, and we had a picture of every single person, every character that's been in the MCU. And we hung them up on the wall, all around us, and we basically spent months and months and months talking about, um, where we could go with each character, how we could draw them through the story, thinking about how we...every single, every single one of these characters has been on a very specific journey through the MCU to arrive at this moment.

And it was a very long creative process that we went through, thinking about where we could take this story, where we could take these characters, how we could combine these characters in interesting ways. It was the most fun, creative exercise I think I've ever been through in my life because it was just us sitting in a room for months and months and months just telling each other stories about these characters, 99% of which did not make it into the movie. But, uh, I will say that, that was our process. We thought about every body in the MCU, how they could play a role in the story moving forward, and starting tomorrow you will see the movie

GOLDBLUM: Who has a question for Elizabeth Olsen?

REPORTER: I recently heard that you would love it if Scarlet Witch got her own films, so what do you think that Scarlet Witch could bring to the table if she did have her own solo film?

OLSEN [SCARLET WITCH]: I would feel thrilled! I mean - Kevin Feige is sitting right in front of me... Paul and I joke about how much we would love to do a House of M spin-off, and a really domesticated, indie version of it [laughing] and I think that would be a lot of fun. That part of her story is a reason why I love this character so much and, I mean I am just so happy that I'm still included! I don't need my own movie, Feige! Please just bring me back! All the time! This is truly the greatest cast and we get to work with the best crew and we get to work with the people who are the best at their jobs, so there is nothing like this experience anywhere else and we are very lucky to be here, and to enjoy each other's company most of the time. That's it.

GOLDBLUM: Very cool, thank you. Um...Danai [Gurira]!

REPORTER: I've heard rumours that some of the women within the Marvel Universe have pitched Mr Feige an all-female Marvel movie. What can we talk about that?

GURIRA [OKOYE]: No! I know no details on that. I was just thinking how excited I am about Brie Larson who is shooting Captain Marvel right now [applause] and how that's gonna be a pretty awesome venture, but the awesome thing that I think is happening, that we see happening across many dimensions in, uh, in our entertainment industry, is we're seeing more women take the helm in various realms. And that is not only about time, but will make the world a better place - I believe. So I'm looking forward to the future!

GOLDBLUM: Thank you so much Avengers: Infinity War cast! Thank you press people! This is the best time I've ever had in my whole life! Robert Downey Jr.!

A. RUSSO: Thank you Jeff!

GOLDBLUM: Amazing.

Written and Transcribed by James Green