Just call them… The Revengers. Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth may have put their Marvel personas back in storage after Avengers: Endgame (for now, anyway), but that familiar chemistry from Thor: Ragnarok is there in Men In Black: International.

Agents M (Thompson) and H (Hemsworth) walk through MIB’s London headquarters, trying to discuss a serious matter: M believes there’s a mole among their ranks after a high-ranking alien was killed at a night club near St. Paul’s Cathedral and their main clue is a substance left behind called Zeaphos. H is far from the brains of the operation, but he knows what Zeaphos is. “The right amount will keep you dancing shirtless in Morocco for 14 hours straight… so I’ve heard,” he says.

“While Tessa plays the rookie agent, in some ways she is more like Tommy [Lee Jones] and you might say Chris is more like Will, only in that Tessa’s someone who comes to this through a 20-year study of everything from astrophysics to The National Inquirer,” producer Walter Parkes says. “She’s a very very smart and, not by-the-book, but let’s just say she’s a character who when we meet her tends to not let passion get in the way of her conscious approach to problem solving.”

In Men In Black: International, Agent M, a MIB agent on a probationary period, is sent off to London by New York bureau chief Agent O (Emma Thompson) to partner with Agent H. Together, they are tipped off to a case involving The Hive, an alien force once thought to have been defeated by H and his mentor High T (Liam Neeson), the head of MIB London, years prior.

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Image via Sony / Columbia Pictures

Bennett Walsh, another production on the film, explains the lead casting happened around the same time for both. “We didn’t go to Chris first and then go to Tessa,” he says. “It was parallel, and when you see Chris and Tessa they just look funny, the height and all that. And they’re great together.”

On the set of International, Thompson and Hemsworth walk us through this new world of MIB, some of the gunplay we can expect (including a vehicle with hub caps that can be turned into weapons), and Kumail Nanjiani as the secret “third” Men In Black agent, the pint-sized Pawny.

The following group interview with press has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Was it an easy yes to work with Tessa again after Thor?

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Absolutely. Yes. It was early conversations of “Who’s the girl? What are we doing?” She was at the top of the list and I said, “Fantastic, we’ll pick where we left off and letting both of us do something different than the dynamic in that film, the difference in chemistry. I think the script dictated that but also we achieved that. So it’s been a lot of fun. A lot of the time when you work with a costar you spend sometimes the first half of the shoot getting to know each other and so to not have to do that is always a huge relief.

We’re told you got eight suits a piece. This is suit number… which one?

HEMSWORTH: Oh is it? I think I’ve got more than that. I don’t know, they’re just on a rack and people hand them to me to put on.

How do they feel?

HEMSWORTH: They’re good, they’re great. They’re super comfy. They’ve got an elasticity to ‘em, which is nice in particular for the movements and stunts and so on that we do in this. It’s cool.

In terms of that dynamic between the two of you that you’ve worked on… [Thompson arrives for the interview] what were you aiming for? You [Hemsworth] said you were aiming for a different one. What is that, apart from you liking Zeaphos?

HEMSWORTH: Just having a different chemistry, I think. How do we make something unique not only for the franchise but from what we’ve done before?

THOMPSON: It’s fun. It’s like the original movies have such a particular tone and feel. There’s something inherent in the world of Men In Black, particularly when we’re on these real MIB sets, it feels like the ghosts or gods of the movies come down and go, “You will say it this way,” in a nice way. But I think we’re also trying to find what this new thing is.

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Image via Columbia Pictures

Tessa, we were just talking to Chris about this? How does the iconic suit feel?

THOMPSON: Well, first, Paul Smith has designed all our suits, which is so cool and I’m such a fan of his so it’s nice to get to wear one of his suits. But when I first put it on, I was saying to Jason, the guy who helps me get dressed, “God, can you imagine some people wear suits all day to work?” And he looked at me and I go, “Oh right! I’m gonna have to do that.” But I love it. I love wearing suits just even in my life.

HEMSWORTH: It’s better than the Thor and Valkyrie costumes.

THOMPSON: Yeah, those are really really uncomfortable. It’s comfortable also being in these spaces where there are a ton of other agents and [costume designer] Penny Rose has done such an incredible job with doing plays on this classic Men in Black silhouette, making it look cool and futuristic and interesting and fashiony. It’s fun to walk around and see the world.

What makes you feel most badass in this role? You’re stepping in as a woman and it’s famously been two men. What makes you feel most badass?

THOMPSON: I don’t think [of] actually being a woman inside of it because I’m used to being that. I think just that she’s a scientist and she’s really smart and that she leads with that and that she’s curious about the world and she’s resourceful, all of those things.

Can you guys talk about the dynamic between your characters? In the scene we just watched, you [M] don’t seem like you’re super into his vibe, at least from what we saw.

HEMSWORTH: She is not. This is pretty early in the film. We certainly want to have the characters pitched pretty far apart and be opposites so there’s a lot more fun to be had there of figuring out that conflict of how to traverse that relationship and trying to get on the same page and missing constantly. It’s a fun dynamic to play through in this part of the film. My character certainly does things his own way and is reckless in his approach. He certainly doesn’t take advice from others, he works alone usually, and then in this particular instance they’ve teamed up together outside of either of their first choice. I think she’d probably rather be saddled with someone a little more on book, but as I said it gives us somewhere to go and gives us a nice arc.

THOMPSON: M, her whole life was transformed by an experience that she has as a really young child with an alien and these men in black — although she didn’t know that they were literally called the Men In Black at the time — change the course of her life and this organization has been so mythologized in her mind and when she hears that [H] is one of the star agents who saved the world, I think for the early part of the film she’s trying to grapple with that idea of him — this heroic, smart, with-it agent — and the reality. I think they also just miss each other, they both misunderstand each other. One thing that we’ve talked about, Chris and I, is this idea of what do they teach each other? That was something that was so touching about Will and Tommy’s dynamic over the course of the three films. You felt like they really offered each other something, that they were able to be better men, frankly, from being in the company of each other, that they made each other stretch and grow in a way, and that’s played with the easiness that this franchise has. Obviously, because there’s also some other layers of dynamics between [us] because he’s a guy and I’m a girl.

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Image via Sony Pictures

We were told about this awesome gun fight with the Jaguar. Do you have a favorite weapon? Have you shot that scene?

THOMPSON: You have a favorite weapon.

HEMSWORTH: Tommy gun-esque thing where I pull the hub cap off the wheel and slam it on the gun.

THOMPSON: Chris is so good at gun stuff. He’s amazing at it.

HEMSWORTH: I don’t think I’ve fired a real gun in my life, but I had a lot of sticks and things I [pretended were] guns as a kid. I’d play in the forest and run around, pretend to be an action hero.

THOMPSON: You’re very good at it.

HEMSWORTH: I make the sounds to myself, as well, which saves us some money in post-production. I’m pretty popular on the production side of things.

THOMPSON: There’s all these hidden guns inside the Jag and for M it’s really a moment. She’s been waiting to uncover this world and so it physically puts her right into this space of being constantly surprised by this organization and this new world that she’s entered which is really fun.

Can you talk about the comedy and humor in the movie? What style of comedy?

HEMSWORTH: We’ve had a lot of improvisational stuff, which has been great. I personally think we lock in and find out my favorite moments. When the characters really start to buzz along is when we really let go of it. I think there’s a familiarity of working together before which is really beneficial in that instance. You know each other’s rhythms and you’re stomping over each other’s lines and there’s a bit of chaos to it.

THOMPSON: You have a healthy disrespect for each other because you know each other.

HEMSWORTH: You get away with a lot more.

THOMPSON: You’re not trying to impress each other anymore.

HEMSWORTH: But there’s an English style of humor to my character that is a lot of running continually, riffing on observational stuff, which is nice and different to what I’ve done before.

We were talking earlier about potential celebrity cameos that they might still be sorting out. Is there anybody from Thor, the Marvel universe that you would love to see pop in here?

HEMSWORTH: I’d like to see Korg [voiced by Taika Waititi] roll in. “So… lobby here?” Can you imagine? The movie would just do a complete turn in his direction. He’d stole the show.

THOMPSON: He’d walk away with it so maybe he should just stay out of it. There’s been some talk about who would be in it because Men In Black in all the films has constant 24-hour surveillance on aliens and in the past people like Sylvester Stallone and Michael Jackson were those people. It’s fun to come in every day and pitch new people. My current pitch is Cardi B.

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Image via Sony Pictures

Can you talk about the secret third man in black, Kumail Nanjiani? Have you shot scenes with him? What is that dynamic like bringing him into it?

HEMSWORTH: He’s a CG character, but he was on set for all his stuff, just off camera. He’s just perfect. It’s so hard to do that stuff with a tennis ball or with the PAs reading the lines. You can’t really improvise with him. So, in that instance, I think there’s so much more material and better material due to him being here.

THOMPSON: I begged him to do this movie because I heard his name come up. We had only met a couple times in passing but I was like, “Please do it!” He was trying to decide because he’s a writer, obviously, as well and he was working on a bunch of projects and [had] just gotten off a long shoot. So he really loved it, but I could tell there was a second pause. I was like, “Please come and do it.” I’m just such a fan of his. I think he’s so smart.

HEMSWORTH: Yeah, he’s great.

THOMPSON: And so talented. The cool opportunity inside of this space is to have humor that is irreverent and satirical and topical. Some of my favorite jokes in the original films are about race, for example, some of Will Smith’s one-liners, which are brilliant and, unfortunately, still hold up. It’s really exciting to have a talent like Kumail, who’s just funny and also just so smart and wants to say something.

Speaking of Will, have either of you talked to Tommy or Will? Gotten the seal of approval at all throughout this process?

HEMSWORTH: I run lines with him most nights. Yeah, it’s good… [Seriously] I haven’t, no.

THOMPSON: Yeah, me neither.

HEMSWORTH: I’d like to, though. Maybe we should’ve reached out.

THOMPSON: I know right.

HEMSWORTH: We’ll see them at the premiere.

THOMPSON: Should we have? Just to get an okay?

HEMSWORTH: “No, we haven’t started shooting yet, Will! What are you talking about? It’s just before we get going and we want the tick of approval. Yeah, you’re good? Thank you.”

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Image via Sony Pictures

We’ve seen the concept art and heard a lot about different sets and locations on the film. Do you have a particular favorite that you’ve filmed already or that you’re looking forward to?

THOMPSON: I really love all the hyper-loop stuff. That stuff was really fun to shoot. And truly this [gestures to London MIB set]. Also, getting to shoot with Emma Thompson in the recreated office from the last film… If I had just passed her in the bathroom, I would’ve been happy but getting to actually act with her in that set was incredible. All of the things that are plucked from Men In Black iconography and then this train station in New York that transforms into the train station here in London was actually a train station in London, which they will do some CG to. When we shot in London, we shot nights and then they recreated that bit of street in the studio here and I’m just still so wildly impressed by stuff like that. I don’t care. I know I’ve done one or two big movies but I’m still like, “Wow! What?!” And when we meld the practical stuff with the CG world I think it’s pretty impressive.

What’s it like working with F. Gary Gray?

HEMSWORTH: Awesome. He’s great. Big fan of him before the work on the film and I love his consistency. He wants to get the best version of what’s on the page but is always searching for what we can get and encourages us, gives us a free take each time. I know a lot of directors say they’re gonna do that — “no, I love improvisation” — but they don’t really encourage it or do it one or two days here and there. I do think that, for me, it’s where I feel like I found the character.

THOMPSON: And if you happen upon something he feels is golden, then it just becomes a part of the scene, then he’ll ask you to continue doing it. So in that way it really feels like what you bring to the improvisational space becomes integral to the DNA of the character, which is great. I’ve been a fan of his for so long, I sensed the TLC “Chasing Waterfalls” music video. I hadn’t even realized cumulatively when I look at the breath of his career and what he’s done that he’s made such an impression on me with what he’s done when I was young. Like, “Bye Felicia.” It’s cool because he really trusts you in terms of the character and he has real scope and he’s just so good at creating worlds that are big and epic.

Do your characters ever end up developing any sort of sexual or romantic tension, or does it never go there?

HEMSWORTH: We can’t tell you.

THOMPSON: Spoilers.

HEMSWORTH: I mean, we, eh, we don’t really know either. There’s a version of the script. We’re playing around with the ending at the moment, to be totally honest.

THOMPSON: That seems to be the way with us. Even with Thor, it was the same with us. Will we? Won’t we? We had a kissing scene. It’s in the deep cut, extra extra extra, if you know what I mean. There’s a whole sequence. There were takes in there, yeah.

HEMSWORTH: Yeah, we had kisses.

Would you prefer for this to go either way, if it were up to you?

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Image via Sony Pictures

HEMSWORTH: My concern would be if… it’s like any origin story. That’s a perfect way to end the movie. They get together and all live happily ever after and then where do you go for the second one? So, being greedy and looking at it long term, if we got to do another one, I’d be like, “Oh no, save it.” That’s gonna stretch it out, but I also think this film is about a lot of other emotions more so than the love for each other.

THOMPSON: Than romance, necessarily.

HEMSWORTH: My character’s trying to figure out who the Hell he is. He’s pretty misdirected.

THOMPSON: I don’t know how you feel, Chris, but I feel like we’re always in our hot spot… Hot spot? Sweet spot. These characters, there’s some Princess Leia-Han Solo in there, there’s [Katharine] Hepburn and [Spencer] Tracy. There’s real texture and, to me, when we’re really singing, it reminds me of those iconic duos. I think that with a lot of those there’s this undercurrent of emotion, but there are so many directions in which the relationship can go and the thing that really is the most exciting about these relationships is a true meeting of mind and of wit, and a sort of back and forth with that that creates tension.

HEMSWORTH: I think there’s something more interesting about the idea that they couldn’t get there because there were certain obstacles. They weren’t allowed with the system; you’re not supposed to have any attachments at MIB and so there’s an interesting obstacle there to play with.

THOMPSON: It’s just a friend from work.

HEMSWORTH: It’s just a friend from work.

Men In Black: International opens in theaters June 14th.

For more from our set visit, click on the links below.

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