Casting Background for Avengers: Endgame

Looking for something to watch? The biggest blockbuster in movie history is a good to place start. Avengers: Endgame is currently streaming on Disney+. Here's what Central Casting Georgia Casting Director Alyssa J. has to say about working on the film.

Avengers: Endgame shattered box office records when it debuted with a global haul of $1.22 billion and became the first film to exceed $1 billion globally in its opening weekend. The previous global box office record was held by Avengers: Infinity War with a $640.5 million opening.

Endgame follows the events of Infinity War as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the rest of the Avengers deal with the fallout from Thanos' universe changing snap. Casting Director Alyssa J. from Central Casting Georgia cast Background Actors, Stand-Ins, and doubles for both Endgame and Infinity War, which shot back-to-back mostly in 2017.

"For the most part, the first half of filming was dedicated to Infinity War and the last half of filming to Endgame," Alyssa said. "However, the two movies were often shot out of order, or even more challenging, they were shot simultaneously. There would be a main unit that filmed scenes for Infinity War while an additional second unit filmed at the same time in a different location for Endgame."

Over the course of both films, Alyssa and the Central Casting Georgia team cast over 2,500 Background Actors and more than 100 Stand-Ins and almost 40 doubles to accommodate a cast of over 50 principal actors.

Unlike Infinity War, which mostly takes place in the present time, Endgame flashes back and forth between time periods like the 1940s, 1970s, and 2010s. Alyssa counts these scenes as some of her favorite and most challenging scenes to cast.

"The most challenging scene to cast was the 1970s exterior Camp Lehigh sequence when Captain America and Tony Stark time travelled back to get the Pym particles and Infinity stone," Alyssa said. "We needed over 150 Background Actors to work a two-day matching recall. The majority of them needed to be male soldiers which meant high and tights for almost everybody! We had to find 100+ men willing to have production cut their hair into a period-appropriate military style and be completely clean shaven, in addition to them also being physically fit. Needless to say, it was a challenge, but luckily we had a great group of background commit to this scene."

Avengers: Endgame is the culmination of 22 Marvel films that started with Iron Man in 2008. Central Casting has cast Background Actors, Stand-Ins, and doubles for many of these films, including Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnorak, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Iron Man 2.

Taking on two huge films that tie into a larger universe can be daunting, but Alyssa was up for the challenge. To prep for her work on Infinity War and Endgame, she re-watched all of the previously released Marvel movies.

"Working on Endgame was one of the best and most challenging experiences of my life," Alyssa said. "I loved working with the incredibly dedicated and talented crew and I can't believe how lucky I am to have been a part of this epic project. Endgame was hands down my favorite Marvel movie yet!"

Want to hear more casting stories from Casting Directors? Check out our Casting Directors' most memorable scenes and discover the behind the scenes stories from some of our large calls.