When Doctor Strange wrapped production at Longcross Studios in the UK back in 2016, Marvel picked up stakes and moved to Pinewood Studios in Atlanta full-time. Having been to the remote Georgia film lot, it’s easy to see the appeal. The studio is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forests and fields. In fact, Pinewood Atlanta is so far from civilization that there are Home Depot, Panavision, and The Rag Place stores onsite. For Marvel, this is ideal as it affords them access to the largest studio complex in the United States in near-perfect isolation from prying fandom eyes.
But filming in what amounts to a gated country club can’t keep everything a secret. Especially when an upcoming entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe requires a scene full of extras. As of this writing, Black Panther is currently filming and Avengers: Infinity War is gearing up to take the production baton. Very little is known about Infinity War except for the cast list and the fact that Thanos will finally be stepping into the ring as the Big Bad. Other than that, it’s all conjecture at this point. But Backstage.com has some interesting casting calls for the climatic battle that give a few hints about where the heroes might be headed before they gear up to take on The Mad Titan.
WARNING: THE SMALLEST OF SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT.
With a movie of this scope, it makes sense that casting calls for extras have been broken up into several requests. While two of them are pretty generic — one is for a body double that could be a stand-in for Scarlett Johansson and the other is merely for soldiers — the rest are specific enough to give away the location of the scene. Vikings, and warrior women, and aliens, oh my!
Aliens (Background/Extra) Males & Females, 18-50. Tall, slender or athletic build. Must be comfortable being painted (including on your face & any exposed body parts). All ethnicities.
Vikings (Background/Extra) Males & Females, 18-59. Especially looking for men with long hair & beards. Must be comfortable with fake blood and possibly special effects make-up. Caucasian.
Warrior Woman (Background/Extra) Female, 20-39. Athletic build, 5’9”-5’11”, waist 26-28, hips 37-39. Looking for someone with a high top fade or willing to cut hair on just the sides and wear a wig. African-American.
Based on these requests, one can infer Infinity War will travel to space, Asgard, and Wakanda. Being comfortable with body paint suggests a location somewhere within the Guardians of the Galaxy universe as James Gunn has made fantastic use of alien visuals with a variety of alien skin tones. Vikings are obviously from the home of Thor, though it’s interesting to note the extras will be battered and bloody, perhaps even enhanced in post-production. And the extremely specific need for a warrior woman sounds like one of the infamous Dora Milaje that guard the life of Black Panther.
Now, is any of this really a surprise? No. Of course Avengers: Infinity War will take place across a wide array of locations as they’ll be gathering the Marvel equivalent of every Pokemon in order to defeat the last gym leader Thanos. But it’s still fun to speculate on why certain places will need extra warm bodies in the background.