The reluctant star is returning as the witchy Wanda in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. She talks to Jacob Stolworthy about superhero film flak, her famous sisters’ advice, and why she rarely watches herself on screen

INDEPENDENT:
Elizabeth Olsen is covering her eyes. “I can’t look at the screen. I’m sorry.” The cause of the actor’s dismay is not, as you might think, my face, but her own. It’s midway through our interview and I’ve switched off my laptop camera to evade internet issues, leaving Olsen alone, staring back at herself. She spends the rest of the chat with her eyes modestly directed to the right. “We should have caught up in person,” she says.

This isn’t the behaviour you’d expect from a bankable Hollywood star of Marvel movies – and one who comes from an acting dynasty. Her siblings are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, stars of tween films and fashion lines. Younger sister Elizabeth has been acting since the age of four, but she didn’t appear in her first film till she was 21. Instead of going the way of the twins, she oscillated between smaller indie films and blockbusters, including Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla (2014) and several Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films.

Each role has been vastly different to the last – a spirited drama student in cosy comedy Liberal Arts (2012), a narcissistic social media influencer in 2017 Instagram satire Ingrid Goes West, and a timid rookie FBI agent in violent murder mystery Wind River in the same year.

But it’s for her character in the Marvel universe that she’s become best known. She played the perennially unlucky witch Wanda Maximoff in 2015 Avengers sequel Age of Ultron, before returning in a further three MCU films – Captain America: Civil War; Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Then Wanda proved so popular that she was given her own TV show, WandaVision.

In the space of nine inventive episodes, Olsen became a Marvel favourite thanks to her ability to switch fluidly from comedy to emotion with a flick of the wand. She shows this in our conversation, too, discussing sensitive topics, including the media’s treatment of her sisters, while playfully reacting to the persistent postman who won’t stop knocking on my door. “See ya!” she shouts after he informs me, through my letterbox, that he’s leaving my package on the doorstep.

It helped Olsen’s cause that WandaVision, Marvel’s debut foray into television, was an ambitious project that put time and care into a character previously given short shrift in favour of the dominant figures – well, big strong men – Iron Man, Captain America and Thor.

“I only signed on to do a couple movies, so it continues to be a surprise when they want to use me for more projects,” she says, adding: “I’ve been confused by how lucky I got with them wanting to make WandaVision.”

Olsen was living in Richmond, London, when the show launched in January 2021, during the second lockdown. It became one of the best-reviewed Marvel projects of all time, and the word-of-mouth hysteria surrounding it saw the series accomplish the feat of attracting non-fans as well as diehards. Olsen, though, says she “totally dissociated” from the frenzy it whipped up, and is “not really attached to it emotionally”.

I don’t like presenting at awards shows. I tried and I don’t like it

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THE MARY SUE: It continues to be Elizabeth Olsen’s world, and we’re all just living in it. Olsen has brought Wanda Maximoff to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Avengers: Age of Ultron and is now rightfully gaining a lot of support for her performance in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which hits theaters tomorrow night. Despite my feelings on her storyline as a whole in the movie (which I will touch on in a future piece), one thing is very clear: Lizzie Olsen is a powerhouse.

Nearly all the reviews out of this movie put their differences aside to praise her work as Wanda, and rightfully so. In WandaVision, we watched as she grappled with grief and lost control of herself and in Multiverse of Madness. We were confronted with a Wanda who was at her rope’s end and needed some kind of lifeline no matter the cost. Elizabeth Olsen played her torment in a way that made you understand her outrageous motives. She made you believe that she was willing to do anything to get what she wanted and that she was being “reasonable” in her own way.

Critics rave

What’s been wonderful to see is the influx of love for Olsen and her performance from reviews of the movie. She brought a power to Wanda that continues to highlight why she’s such a fascinating character, and most everyone came out of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness praising her for it.

My #DoctorStrange review with assorted notes:

– It’s horror
– There’s a kill halfway through that I still can’t get out of my head
– Elizabeth Olsen goes full Mommie Dearest
– There’s a bunch of Evil Dead references
– The gay moment could’ve been gayer https://t.co/RSXiJRov46

— Karl Delossantos 🔜 Cannes (@karl_delo) May 3, 2022

The review for the San Francisco Chronicle specifically pointed out that Olsen was the MVP of the movie. “Elizabeth Olsen, who, as the Scarlet Witch, gives what will go down as one of the finest performances of the year. It’s easily the best acting in a superhero movie since Heath Ledger’s in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight,’” Mick LaSalle writes and he’s correct.

Inverse‘s Eric Francisco says, “Enough truly cannot be said for Olsen as Wanda here. There hasn’t been a superhero actor this in tune to their role since maybe Christopher Reeve as Superman.”

Wanda has been that bitch

There’s a reason I love Wanda Maximoff. And though I love the comic book take on the character, I really love what Elizabeth Olsen did with her. In Captain America: Civil War, when she shows up with chipped nails, I knew that I’d lay my life on the line for Wanda, and her performance in Multiverse of Madness proves just how much she understands this character and the pain she holds.

I’m happy that the consensus is that Olsen is amazing, and I hope that she continues to get the praise she deserves. Her portrayal of Wanda Maximoff is one that ranks up there for me in terms of brilliant superhero roles. There’s something so magical about her take on Wanda, and no one can quite give you the chills with a simple head-tilt in the way that Olsen can.

If you go into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with an open mind, you’ll be blown away by just how good she is.