With the episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled “As I Have Always Been,” actress Elizabeth Henstridge, a.k.a. Jemma Simmons, makes her directorial debut, as a time storm is propelling the Zephyr and her S.H.I.E.L.D. teammates toward imminent doom. At the same time, Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Coulson (Clark Gregg) are stuck in a loop where they’re forced to attempt to save the team over and over, until they finally get it right or are sucked into the raging storm, while all they want to do is complete their mission.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, Elizabeth Henstridge talked about her natural curiosity for directing, shadowing different episode directors prior to finally taking it on herself, what she learned from watching how co-star Clark Gregg approaches it, what she thought when she read the script for her episode, what she was most nervous about, the time loop narratives that she watched for inspiration, the pain of waiting for Jemma to reunite with Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), what she loves about the Daisy and Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) dynamic, hoping the episode will get a blooper reel, and wanting to direct a feature film that’s centered around a female superhero.

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Image via ABC

Collider: Congratulations on directing an episode of the show! At what point, in your career, did you realize that that was something you were also interested in and that you actively wanted to pursue stepping behind the camera?

ELIZABETH HENSTRIDGE: I trained in theater, so when I booked film roles and TV stuff, it was my first time being on set, and I was just absolutely fascinated by the whole processes and the different people that worked on it. And I was always mining information and stories from people. It was just a natural curiosity, I think. And then, with being able to be on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, you get to talk to different directors, and share their story and their way of doing things. An actor-director relationship is such a close one. So, as we got further along in the seasons, I felt like I wanted to push myself. I requested wanting to shadow, and the more I shadowed, the more I just absolutely fell in love with it. I was so fascinated by the different methods and the way that you can tell a story through a camera lens. I didn’t really necessarily admit it to anyone, but as soon as I started shadowing I knew that want I wanted to do was directing. Then, it was just a case of me gaining confidence and putting my name forward to say, “Yeah, throw my hat in the ring.”

Did you have a moment when you were like, “Okay, I’ve shadowed enough. I feel like I’ve got this. I’m ready to do this now.” Or does it not happen that way?

HENSTRIDGE: It’s hard to remember now, but there’s a thing where you never really feel ready for anything, and that’s a good thing. I could shadow for the rest of eternity and probably still wouldn’t feel ready to actually do it. But I shadowed for a season and said, “I would love to be able to do this.” I kept shadowing and kept putting my name forward, and in Season 7, they were amazing and said, “All right, you’ve asked for this. Here it is.” And then, I read the script and I went, “I don’t know. This feels very hard!”

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Image via ABC

You also had the advantage of watching Clark Gregg direct on the show. Was there anything specific that you took from seeing how he approached directing?

HENSTRIDGE: So much. He is so generous with his knowledge and his decades of working in this industry. I think the main thing is how brilliant a leader he is. He listens to everybody, he respects everybody, he has great joy and humor, and he’s a filmmaker. He’s all about making, whatever it is that he’s doing, the best it can be and as inclusive as it can be. So, I tried to emulate that behavior, in just making it a positive, joyful experience, where everybody feels heard and everybody feels like we’re working together to make this the best it can be.

How does the decision come about, as far as which episode you’ll direct? Is that something that you have any say in, or do you just get told which episode it is?

HENSTRIDGE: Yeah, they just said, “This is the episode.” I think I knew the number, but I didn’t know anything about the episode. Some of it comes down to having to be fairly light in the episode before because that’s when the director preps. So, it was them trying to figure out the scheduling and how that would work, but some of it is logistics. And then, I suspect Chloe Bennet being a big part of the episode had a lot to do with it, and Clark Gregg, as well. They’ve been particularly supportive, and I think they would know that I would freak out if got some really good Coulson-Daisy stuff, so I think they gave me that, as a gift.

Because this is a very different kind of episode of the show, were there things that you were most nervous about pulling off with this episode?

HENSTRIDGE: We did block shooting because there was so many repeating scenes on the same set. You shoot all of the scenes on that one set from one angle, and then you turn the camera around and do it all from the other angle. There were just lots of different tiny pieces and a lot of camera moves were repeated, to get that vibe of a repeating day. We repeated lots of motifs of the camera work. So, I think the first day, I was most nervous, honestly, because as a show, we’d never done block shooting and, as an actor, I had never done it. We had to get on the same page, with all of the different timing. We needed to get into the rhythm of it and create a strategy of, how do you rehearse that? How do you shoot that? How does that all work, without us all going crazy? There was a lot of color coordination going on, and a lot of highlighting. Once we got through that first day, which also included a power cut for a couple of hours and the hyperbaric chamber breaking, it felt like, “Okay, we can do anything now.”

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Image via ABC

Were there any prior time loop narratives that you looked at, as reference points, for doing this?

HENSTRIDGE: Yeah, I watched a bunch of stuff. I watched Groundhog Day, of course, The Day After Tomorrow, Russian Doll on Netflix, and Run Lola Run. The writer, Drew Greenberg, and I talked a lot about that, and we watched the movies together. That was really good fun, to see how it’s been done. It’s such a classic story concept. That was really fun research, to see how different people have done it. It was a very satisfying thing, once you’ve got your head around it. It was definitely detail -oriented.

How did you find the aspect of directing an episode that you were also in? Was is it like to try to be in scenes and be in the moment, as an actor, while you’re also thinking about the overall shots, as a director?

HENSTRIDGE: It was a joy, honestly, to do some of the acting. I’m so lucky, in that I’ve played this character for so long because it’s easy to click back in and out of her. It was a nice emotional release to get to let out some emotion during what was sometimes high pressure days. Some advice that I got from other actors that had done similar things was, “Don’t leave the acting for last. Make sure you prepare those scenes as you would, so that when you get to them, you can enjoy them and not feel like you’re not really doing great acting ‘cause your mind is in other places.” So, I was really grateful that I had that advice. And then, the other actors in the scene were just amazing. It’s a tricky thing to essentially be directed by an actor in the scene with them, and then, when “Cut” was yelled, I was directing. I was very lucky that everybody was really supportive of that ‘cause that could have been a bit jarring.

It’s been too long since we’ve gotten to see Fitz. Jemma has obviously been addressing his absence a bit more, in the recent episodes, but we still haven’t gotten a chance to see him. What can you say about that? Will we be getting some answers soon? Will we finally be getting more and more information now, through the end of the season?

HENSTRIDGE: Yes. I share in your pain. It has been too long since we’ve seen him. We’ll definitely get answers. We’ll get to know where he is and why he’s there, and what’s happening. We’ll get to know some of that from Jemma. In Episode 709, you do get some glimpses into what might be going on there. And soon, you will hear directly from Fitz, what is going on, which I’m sure will be a relief to a lot of people.

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Image via ABC

Enoch has also played an important role, in this season and in this episode. We learn how crucial he is, in this episode, to what’s actually going on. What’s it been like to work with and direct Joel Stoffer?

HENSTRIDGE: Joel and Enoch are just a true Marvel/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. story. He said, “Phillip J. Coulson,” at the end of Season 4, and then he came back for the most incredible arc. Joel is just the most terrific actor. He’s captured this character and made us care about a robot. That’s an incredible thing to be able to do, and to do it in such an authentic way, and really breathe life into a robot. He’s become such an integral part of the show and our family. His acting is incredible, and I’m so excited for people to see him in this episode, with the journey that he takes on. He’s a brilliant actor and it was an absolute joy to direct him. I’m so grateful that he got to be such a big part of this show.

Along with Daisy being at the center of the story, we also get to see a bit more of the Daisy and Sousa dynamic. What can you say to tease that, for this episode, and what you see, as the fun of that relationship?

HENSTRIDGE: Daisy and Sousa make a great team. He has been around Agent Carter, so he’s used to a woman who knows her mind, is extremely talented, and is very strong and intelligent. There are similarities there, with Daisy. I think people will fall in love with Sousa, during this episode. I am Sousa-obsessed. We get to learn a lot more about him. Both the fans of Agent Carter and people who haven’t seen Agent Carter are just gonna absolutely love Sousa in this episode. He has an integral role to play, and some really exciting stuff happens in this episode with him.

Were there any particularly memorable bloopers that happened, with this episode?

HENSTRIDGE: Yeah, definitely. There was probably a lot of bleeping out. One of my favorite things about this episode is that we get quite a lot of group comedy moments, and to get to see these characters on screen, all being comedic, is just brilliant. I’m sure there’s a ton of outtakes from certain scenes that I don’t wanna spoil, but they were very funny. We had a bunch of different versions and, in the editing room, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I just wanna show all of these in the series,” but we picked the right ones. There were definitely lots of alts, as we would say that, hopefully will either be on a blooper reel, or some comedy “best of” reel.

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Image via ABC

How did you find the whole post-production process on this episode, working with the editor? What was it like to have to actually pick the shots that you wanted for the episode?

HENSTRIDGE: Honestly, that was one of my favorite parts of it. This episode was edited by Kelly Stuyvesant, and she’s incredible. This episode relied so heavily on a fantastic editor. So much of it comes together in the edit. We were able to add little bits to help pick the pace up. She’s collaborative and intelligent and just the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better editor for it. We’ve actually worked together since, and I’m always gonna try to work with her, in the future. She had a real passion for the show and she’s just so talented. It was brilliant how, to have her on this episode, just made it. She’s incredible.

Have you thought about what you’d like to do next, as a director?

HENSTRIDGE: Yeah, I directed a short film, after we wrapped the season, that I wrote and acted in, and I’m now developing that into a feature. We have a writer on board and producers, and everything. It’s in the sci-fi genre still, centered around a female superhero. I love this genre, with what you’re able to say in the superhero realm, what Marvel has been able to do, the stories that you can tell, and how cool it is to direct those fight sequences and special effects, just that world, I’m fascinated by. It’s something that I’ve been lucky enough to be able to work in, for so many years, so I’m definitely gonna continue in this world. I have lots of aspirations, directing wise, that I wanna see realized.

When you come from the Marvel world, and then you step into trying to tell your own superhero story, does it feel like there’s extra pressure to try to do it in a new and different way?

HENSTRIDGE: Whatever project you approach, I’ll try to put my own take on it. I don’t know that it’s so much pressure, rather than support. I have so many people that I can call to say, “Hey, how would you do this? What do you think? How much would this cost? Is it possible?” There’s a breadth of knowledge, from the people that I have connections with now. The thing about working within Marvel is that, at the center of it, is a passion for storytelling, and characters that are extraordinary and ordinary, in lots of different ways. There’s a real culture within Marvel, of everybody being a fangirl or a fanboy. I think Marvel is its own beast. I don’t think I’d make a movie that would rival Captain Marvel, but who knows? I guess you aim high, right?

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Image via ABC

You’ve been an actor for awhile and you’ve worked with a bunch of different directors, but were there things that you learned about acting, actually getting in there and directing, or things that you couldn’t have known about directing, until you actually did it?

HENSTRIDGE: Oh, definitely. Shadowing can only get you so close to what it actually feels like. There’s nothing quite like the pressure. Honestly, you do have the whole weight of the episode, on your shoulders. You make every decision. You get a thousand questions, a day. There’s a huge responsibility that comes with that, and that’s why the pressure is. Everybody can be very supportive, but the buck still stops with you. So, that pressure was something new to get used to. I haven’t been that uncomfortable for awhile. I’ve been lucky enough to be acting in the show for so long, and those nervous leave, after awhile. It was brilliant to feel that fear again, and try to digest that and keep moving, and get through the day. That’s what was so amazing about the bosses and ABC giving me this opportunity. Until somebody gives you the opportunity, there’s not as much room to grow. You have to just start doing it. That’s the only way to really, truly learn and get better. Every day, I learned something new and felt like I came in the next day with renewed confidence that you can only really get from doing it. And in terms of acting, it definitely helps to inform things. It helped me realize how much work goes into setting everything up, before you step onto the stage, as an actor. I certainly enjoyed the act of filming the episode after mine. I just floated onto set and, all of a sudden, wasn’t thinking about ten thousand things. I was just thinking about one thing, which was blissful, in a way.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Wednesday nights on ABC.