Since Elizabeth Olsen was originally approached with the concept of bringing her character Wanda Maximoff into the suburbs with her deceased synthetic partner Vision, portrayed by Paul Bettany, she had no clue how to process it, let alone comprehend the couple’s odd reunion.
What are Elizabeth Olsen’s thoughts before filming WandaVision?
Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ president, and Jac Schaeffer, the MCU’s inventor, had briefed her about their intentions for WandaVision to launch the MCU on the new Disney+ platform. They also mentioned how each episode will be based on classic comedy cliches from the 1950s to the present era.
Elizabeth Olsen said “I was really worried about launching a show like that. The idea that Kevin had about trying to tell this story in a Twilight Zone-y way through a sitcom is so twisted and bizarre to me that I could only be excited to see what they would come up with. Another issue was to bring these superhero characters that audiences are used to seeing on big screens onto a small television.”
With the WandaVision release, however, time was a crucial factor. People were able to stay home throughout the epidemic and reminisce about safe entertainment. WandaVision’s deceptively antiquated narrative not only provided aesthetic comfort but also revealed the underlying tale of one woman’s tremendous sadness and her longing to escape reality.
This zeitgeist-y setting made the series an instant watercooler smash, not only launching off an exciting new age of MCU on Disney+ but also offering viewers the ability to see minor characters become significant characters in their own tales.
Elizabeth Olsen explains. “If you’re in a choir, you’re adding a tone to the group. So, in the Avengers films, I always felt like I was adding a sincerity tone while everyone was being sarcastic. Wanda has a lot of heart and a lot of pain, but with this, all of that went out the window. The core of this woman is really her lack of having really understood her own grief and trauma, and she’s trying to move forward in the world. Then there’s this strong desire and need for creating a family nucleus allows for her to not be alone in the world. And then everything else, the sitcoms, even her knowledge of what’s happening is just circumstance.”
How WandaVison has changed Elizabeth Olsen and the crew?
The major topics hiding below WandaVision’s sweet surface earned it popular with reviewers as well. Think pieces and in-depth analyses of each episode drew a degree of praise for a Marvel character that had never been seen before. WandaVision received 23 Emmy nominations, including Lead Actor honors for Elizabeth Olsen and her onscreen companion Paul Bettany, when the Emmy nominations were revealed. This year’s event has received the third most nominations.
Elizabeth Olsen admits. “Yeah, it’s odd, after seven years of playing the same character, who would have predicted it? I got comfortable being in an ensemble, and I really liked trying to figure out what my point of view was to the story as a whole. But with this show, we just thought, ‘This is the weirdest thing we’re ever going to be able to participate in, so let’s just swing for the fences, and either it will crash and burn or people will like it.’ We just had fun.”
Director Matt Shakman led the charge, putting his years of experience as the creative director of the Geffen Playhouse to the set, giving the group a unified theatrical company atmosphere.
How are Elizabeth Olsen’s relations with her colleague in WandaVision
Elizabeth Olsen said “I’ve had some pretty great leaders on my films, but Matt is one of the greatest leaders I have ever had on a job. He had us come in for two weeks to do rehearsals and to all get the same visual vocabulary for every single episode. Everyone came out to Atlanta, even for a couple of nights, or even if they weren’t working until six months later. We literally felt like an acting troupe. A lot of us, Teyonah (Parris), Katheryn (Hahn), Paul, were all trained from different acting conservatories,”
“We are all students of acting. I mean it was so dorky, we would do vocal exercises in hair and makeup, trying to find this world together. I would look to everyone around me to figure out, ‘OK, are we really doing this cheese? Is this really what we’re doing?’ But we were all doing the same amount of cheese, and as an ensemble, we were supporting and holding each other up. That’s why it felt like such a fun show to work on, because you really felt that camaraderie and necessity of all your scene partners, so it worked.”
As a result, working through the many decades of comedic sitcoms, each with its own distinct rhythms, became less of a challenge and more of a festive communal endeavor.
“I mean it was like a dream. It already feels like such a gift as an actor to get to play a genre or tone or period piece or have a playful exploration of your voice. All those things are already just so much fun and then to constantly have to change and alter it, yet keep the same core of these characters. It was a joy.
I’m really grateful for this show, I got to have a lot of fun showcasing in a way of being a ham. I haven’t gotten to do that in a lot of my work. You learn in life to become quiet and reserved and polite, and it’s really fun to have that opportunity to access the skills that you’ve learned throughout the years. It awoke my body up to what I love about work and I’m feeling residual effects in a positive way preparing for my next job.”
What are Elizabeth Olsen’s future works?
Elizabeth Olsen’s next work led her to the United Kingdom, where she’ll reprise her role as the Scarlet Witch in the forthcoming film Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, after journeying across several imaginary locations. Something felt different when she left behind her close circle of theatrical friends and returned to the big screen after two years as Wanda Maximoff.
“It was great to stay in the same mindset. It was also frustrating because WandaVision hadn’t come out yet. I had just spent a year breaking down what family meant for Wanda. How our entire show is about family sitcoms because it gave comfort through so many different time periods. And I knew that Dr. Strange was going to be different for this character, even though I was going into a film with a bunch of new people, to have this new huge group experience, I was completely alone again.”
Since she’s here in the United States, Elizabeth Olsen may finally take a vacation from Wanda and work on projects outside of the MCU, perhaps even returning to the indie cinema industry where she got her start as an actress years ago.
“This has been a great gift from Marvel, the longer you work for them, the more included you are in every step of the process. And I really do appreciate that. I’m also grateful from a financial standpoint because I’m now able to make decisions and take on opportunities not based on the potential of its commercial success.”
Today, it appears that Elizabeth Olsen’s seven-year stint as Wanda has come to a satisfying conclusion. That is until the MCU requires her to return for another fight.
