Among other interviews last Monday, Kat spoke to Screen Rant. Below, you can watch the interview video and read its accompanying article.
WandaVision brought back another MCU fan favorite last week, as the Disney+ series re-introduced the loquacious college student turned astrophysicist Darcy Lewis. Played by Kat Dennings, she was introduced as an intern and sidekick to Jane Foster in Thor and has now worked her way up to SWORD consultant and doctor.
Dennings spoke to Screen Rant about Darcy’s offscreen growth since Thor: The Dark World, her onscreen chemistry with Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo, and where her character might go from here.
A lot’s been made of Darcy being a doctor now and her credentials. I’m so proud of her. Do you have a backstory in your head for that development, or is that something we’re going to explore later on down the line in the MCU?
Well, first of all, thank you for saying that. That is very sweet. I’ve been really overwhelmed with the sweetness of the internet. That’s not something I ever thought I’d say. I really appreciate how nice people have been about Darcy.
But yeah, it’s funny. The main question I had for the writers was, “Was Darcy blipped?” Like, what happened? We decided amongst ourselves that she was not blipped. And while we don’t see that flashback, I like as an actor to imagine Darcy in the blip. Because that would be hilarious.
I think the idea would be that Darcy was influenced by Jane Foster and Dr. Selvig to become an astrophysicist. It’s kind of fun to watch her evolution, and now she’s a boss and she’s a doctor. I imagine she’s just been in school with her head in a book this whole time.
As far as you know, when was the last time that Darcy saw Jane Foster?
That’s a good question. What we know is that the last time was in Thor: The Dark World. I’d like to think that they saw each other more. I’d like to think that they have a text-phone call-FaceTime relationship.
I think they were in contact personally. I bet Jane wrote her a letter of recommendation.
Previously, you commented about really getting into the action in WandaVision. What’s been your favorite part about portraying Darcy this time around?
It never happens as an actor that you get to not only revisit a role, but bring that role full circle. Like I said, making her a doctor? That’s so gratifying to play. Because she was a fun college student, and now she’s like a boss, and she’s an expert. Now she gets to tell people what’s going on. That’s the most fun part for me.
And I will say those words are very hard to pronounce. I wanted to make sure I got them right, and they actually had an astrophysicist on set to help correct me if I said something wrong. Or if the lines were a little bit right, but a little bit wrong, she would come and be like, “Actually, it’s this,” and then we would change it to be accurate. So, it was a really, really cool experience.
Is it just me, or did I detect a little bit of chemistry between Darcy and Agent Woo? Darcy is usually pretty cold to people, but it seems like she connects with him. Is there a connection there?
Well, for the character, certainly. I love Randall Park. He’s a wonderful person and amazing actor. For me, I was just so excited to be in the scenes with him.
But for those characters, I think there’s that fun thing of two people that you never thought would be put together, from two completely different movies and different parts of the MCU. Seeing that is really fun, and I’m so glad people respond to it. It was fun to play. I love that scene with the potato chips. He’s a joy, and there’s a lot more of that.
What’s the biggest difference between working on these Marvel films and this new foray into the MCU television side on Disney+?
Shooting a show and shooting a movie are different, of course. There’s that thing of like, “Okay, we have to shoot this location out. So we’re gonna do this,” and whatever. There’s always a logistical thing with the show. It’s a little more controlled in a film, but Marvel is the best of the best. They’re as good as it gets, so it didn’t feel that different at all. They’re on top of their game, and obviously, everybody is is the best at their job. And it’s a real joy. That experience is pretty unheard of in the world of indie film, eating ramen in the closet like I usually do on set.
Written by Joe Decklemeier for Screen Rant, article dated February 4th