Ming-Na Wen is crazy. I was going to lead with that when I had the opportunity to interview her at Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in San Jose. I was going to tell her she was crazy because she often shoots on the set of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and then heads straight to the airport to fly to a convention to meet her legions of fans. During her panel at HVFF she talked about how she got up at 3am that morning, flew to San Jose and was flying home late that night. “Because I’m crazy” she added, confirming what I was already thinking.
Her day at HVFF was a whrilwind – she met with fans in the morning, had a solo panel at 11am, I interviewed her immediately after that, then it was back to her booth to meet with more fans. When the convention closed at 6pm, there was still a good sized line at her booth. She definitely worked overtime to make sure all of her fans had an opportunity to talk to her and take photos.
The panel, moderated by Blake Garris, started with Wen poking fun at Hydra and actor Brett Dalton who had to cancel his appearance at HVFF due to his shooting schedule. “He is SO scared of me” she added. She even went so far as to call Dalton, who did not answer. He did call her back right at the end of the panel and while she first joked that “you were too chicken shit to come here and see me” she ended the conversation by telling Brett “I love you, we all love you, we wish you were here” speaking for all of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at HVFF.
There were plenty of fan questions about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. of course. One fan suggested that Coulson and May should “kiss for real” and that they should do it in front of Daisy (for reasons unknown). Another fan talked about how inspirational Wen’s Mulan character was for her. Wen also talked about the upcoming live action Mulan movie, saying that “she is beautiful” and joked “don’t eff it up!”
When asked about the epic “May vs. May” fight scene, she joked “I had to play both roles, but only got one paycheck.” She also discussed her recent leg injury and told fans that the injury happened in May, and she was back filming in July.
I later sat down with Ming-Na Wen and talked to her about going to conventions like Heroes and Villains Fan Fest, meeting the fans face to face, and of course Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. John Barrowman crashed the interview and hilarity ensued.
Heroes and Villains Fan Fest is a great convention for meeting an interacting with some of your favorite actors from Arrow, Flash, The Gifted, Agents of SHIELD and others. If you haven’t been to one yet, check out their website at Heroes and Villains Fan Fest it’s likely they are coming to a city near you in the near future.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Friday nights at 9pm on ABC.