Thanks to the magic of time-travel, the team at Marvel Studios needed an older version of Cassie Lang for their latest Avengers adventure. In fact, the actor needed to be at least five years older than Abby Ryder Fortson’s portrayal of the character in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Enter Emma Fuhrmann. Seven years ago, the actor starred opposite Morgan Freeman in The Magic of Belle Isle and now suddenly, she found herself in one of the biggest films to ever hit the box office.
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In the grand scheme of things, Fuhrmann ended up appearing in a few of the most poignant moments in Avengers: Endgame, showing fans just exactly what The Snap did to the world and those who were stuck after so much devastation and destruction. We had the chance to sit down with Fuhrmann this week and here’s what the star had to say about the future of Cassie Lang, potential superhero team-ups, and more.
ComicBook.com: With any Marvel property, it’s well known how secretive the casting and development process is. When’d you first know you were up for a role in Endgame?
Emma Fuhrmann: When I auditioned it was June 2017, there was no hype whatsoever about what’s upcoming, so I had no idea who I was auditioning for. I was guessing young Black Widow, because that was the only female character that I could think of that I resembled. I thought I was just auditioning to play a younger version of someone. At the time, it was Untitled Avengers Marvel Movie, that’s what I was auditioning for, so I had no idea. I had a fake audition scene, fake character name. When I found out I got the role, I finally found out who I was auditioning for and I had no way of knowing why the character was suddenly so old until the day I showed up on set.
It was just very secretive, and not the normal way of doing things.
Up until that point, had you considered yourself an MCU fan? Did you go to every single movie so you had an idea of every nook and cranny of the universe?
Well, so I had only seen a few so when I got the part, I was just like, “Okay, homework time.” I went to Wikipedia and printed out the order of all the Marvel movies, and I watched 20 something movies in order, to just completely just wrap my head around everything — especially Ant-Man. I think I watched Ant-Man of course more than once, just because I used the girl, Abby Ryder, as a foundation for my Cassie, so I really wanted to get a good understanding of that.
Speaking of foundations and source material, did the Russo’s or any producers suggest you check out maybe this comic series or that comic series? Did you pick up any comics to read?
They actually didn’t. I know that when I was researching Cassie, I found out about her arcs through the comics, about her heart, and how she gets chem particles and all of that. Actually last year, I went to a comic book store and bought some comics that Cassie’s in with Ant-Man and Young Avengers, and so I actually do have some comics.
We saw you in a couple of Endgame scenes obviously, and they both happened to be pretty emotional scenes. Were there any other scenes that you managed to shoot, either by yourself or with Paul [Rudd] or Evangeline [Lilly], that didn’t make it in the final cut?
Yeah, so there’s no technically extra scenes, but the scene where Paul and I are reunited at the door at the house, we just did so many different takes of that scene. We say so much more about how, you know, “I thought you were gone,” and he’s like, “I’m back,” and he calls me peanut. There were just so many different takes, but I was really happy with the one that they picked, they did a good job.
We’ve gotta ask, the surface has only been scratched with you and Cassie, right? Is there a chance we see you reprise the role in the future?
I can’t say, you know. They’re [Marvel] very secretive, but from my research, I know that in the comics Cassie becomes Stature and Stinger in Young Avengers and that would be very cool.
You’ve appeared onscreen with both Ant-Man and the Wasp. After you watched Avengers: Infinity War and after seeing Endgame, are there any other characters or heroes you’d like to appear with on-screen? Who’s your dream acting colleague?
Oh my gosh, wow. You know, probably Brie Larson. I would love to work with Brie. I would love to see them team up. She’s so no-nonsense and Ant-Man. You know how Paul’s character takes everything lightly, so I think that would be a funny duo and I’d love it if Cassie could come along.
So you are relatively new to the MCU, right? Was there one moment where you just kind of had to stop and pinch yourself and say, “Holy cow, I’m in a Marvel movie?”
Yeah, definitely. So, I had gotten to Atlanta to film, and there was this gorgeous sunset. I took a picture of the sunset and posted it on my Instagram story, and I just tagged the location, Atlanta, Georgia. The next day, [Marvel’s] head of security came to my trailer and talked to me about how I can’t post that. I was like, “Well, I wasn’t going to say I was on set of you know, Endgame or anything,” and they were like, “No, we understand, you’re not the first person we had to talk to about this today, but I’ve had people calling me all day trying to find out where you’re going to be filming,” and that was sort of just like a, “Okay, wow, this is real. ” It could not have gotten any realer, I really didn’t understand just how large Marvel was, and how much of an impact it had.
That really just was a sort of a pinch me moment even though I was in a little bit of trouble.
What made being on the Endgame set different than any of the other productions you’ve been in?
I mean, Marvel is just such a machine. It is a well-oiled machine. I don’t think I’ve ever been on such a big set before. I mean, I showed up to set on my first day, I had gotten my scene, but I literally had no idea what had happened before, or after, or anything in between. As you know, Infinity War hadn’t come out yet, so literally, there was no backstory for me to go off of. We show up to set, and the Russo Brothers are giving Paul [Rudd] and I the rundown and that’s when we’re given a very short timeframe to prepare for the scene, and so I think that just sort of was like, “Welcome to the MCU,” for me, that was like my welcome.
So script-wise, you did only get the script of the scenes you were in?
I only got what I was in. Everything else was blacked out and I had to learn when I was there what had happened. I mean, the Russo brothers were saying like, “This person has died, and this person died,” and I was trying to piece together in my head, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, what, why, who are they and why are they dead?” I was trying to piece it all together.
Was the first time you saw the full movie then at the premiere?
It was, it was the first time I had seen it. I was like, “I know I’m in it, so that’s good that it didn’t get cut,” but I had no idea what they had picked, as I said before, we did so many different takes, so I was really excited to finally see it and also find out what happened after Infinity War. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
What was your initial reaction? Does a single word come to mind?
Oh my god. You know, the space that we saw it in, we saw it at the premiere with everyone who had just labored so hard on this movie and so seeing it in that atmosphere was such an amazing experience, just the laughter, and the cheering, and you could hear people literally sobbing. It was just…it was a really special moment.
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What was your favorite moment from Avengers: Endgame? Do you think we’ll see Cassie Lang again soon? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt!
Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home are now in theaters while Captain Marvel is available wherever movies are sold.
