Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Kate Bishop in the Hawkeye Disney+ series, wouldn’t mind seeing her character team up with Florence Pugh’s Black Widow character sometime in the future. The opening of Hawkeye Episode 5 flashed back to how Yelena Belova was one of the many victims of the Blip. When Yelena returned, she discovered that her sister, Natasha Romanoff, died during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Contracted to kill the man responsible, Clint Barton, Yelena tried to execute that contract but was stopped by Kate Bishop, leading to a one-on-one conversation with the two in Kate’s apartment.
As Hailee Steinfeld told TVLine, she was “pretty sure it all made it in there, which was already a lot.” The star is referencing the witty repartee between Kate and Yelena, with the two sharing a homemade meal of boxed mac-and-cheese with a dash of hot sauce added by the Black Widow star. Steinfeld continued to talk up her rapport with Florence Pugh.
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“It really so seamless getting through it with Florence [Pugh]. The banter is incredible,” Steinfeld added. “We’ve got a girls’ night over mac and cheese and hot sauce so how could that not be so much fun? But [also] realizing that this scene does, in fact, carry a lot of weight. These two characters who find this quick connection and almost friendship in each other but know that that cannot and will not get in the way of what they’re both trying to achieve. Kate is at a loss with what Yelena is after and is trying to understand what she’s there to do and why she’s so sure about what kind of person Clint is.”
Directors Bert and Bertie also gave more background on Kate and Yelena’s conversation to Buzzfeed, revealing how it came from an improv moment between the future Hawkeye and Black Widow.ย
“There was obviously a script and it was planned, and we knew we wanted Kate to kind of turn and throw something at Yelena. At first, we were just looking around the set and there was one of those lucky cats from Chinatown. So, it was going to be that at one point, but then there was this hot sauce bottle, and we loved that,” Bertie said “Then, Florence was like, ‘Oh, well, this hot sauce now needs to go all over the mac and cheese.’ Florence is hugely into hot sauce, but Hailee not so much. So, the whole thing where Yelena basically says, ‘Are you done? Can I go crazy?’ That was not planned.”
Bertie continued, “As an actor, you have to know you’re up for many takes, and we kept wondering how much hot sauce could Florence take? She went there for real. At one point, we were like, ‘Are you sure you’re good?’ And Florence was like, ‘I’m in. I am in it. Don’t you worry.’”
What was your favorite moment in the Hawkeye exchange between Kate Bishop and Yelena Belova? Let us know your choice in the comments!
