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Press: Elizabeth Olsen On Accepting Her Destiny As The Scarlet Witch

ZEDISTA: The Portal to the Multiverse is now open, and Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is officially in theaters! 🌀

With the Multiverse unlocked, master of the mystic arts Doctor Strange journeys into the unknown with mystical allies both old and new. One of those allies is fellow Avenger, Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch.

Coming off the heels of last year’s hit sensation, Marvel Studios’ WandaVision, actress Elizabeth Olsen can’t help but be in awe of the woman Wanda Maximoff is now. At a press conference for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier this week, Olsen commented, “In the previous films before WandaVision, I took up a lane for storytelling that was more grounded in sincerity, love, loss, grief. And with WandaVision, I got to become anything and everything, and really, really grow [Wanda] into a woman.”

“And leading her to [accept] that she is this mythic woman,” continued Olsen. “That is her destiny. And I hope that in this film people see that continuation of her acceptance of who she is, the journey that she has taken to get to this moment. I feel like she has way more clarity now than ever in this film.”

When posed with the scenario of who would win in a battle between the two sorcerers, Doctor Strange or Scarlet Witch, Olsen cheekily responded, “Well… I think we all know who would win.”

Titular star Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Doctor Strange, chimed in, “She’s pretty all-powerful, let’s be honest,” before adding, “Oh, I’ve got an id. I have humility. I can accept that.”

Will it all come to a head in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Head to the theaters and find out now!

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll and Jamie Christopher serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Michael Waldron.

Filed under: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Interviews, Marvel, Press, Videos

May 16 2022

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Press: Here’s How Elizabeth Olsen Collaborated With Writer Michael Waldron To Come Up With Wanda’s Story In “Doctor Strange 2”

Elizabeth Olsen wrapped WandaVision only two days before jumping into Multiverse of Madness.

There are some MASSIVE spoilers ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!

BUZZFEED:Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently the latest Marvel project to take over the box office, as fans flock to see this Sam Raimi–directed movie. And while it is technically the second solo Doctor Strange movie, it’s hard to deny how important Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is in the film.

I mean, let’s be honest, it really could’ve been called Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch in the Multiverse of Madness.

And while this MCU movie has so many storylines, Wanda Maximoff’s transformation into the Scarlet Witch is arguably the biggest and one of the most important, especially because the last Marvel project we all saw Wanda in was WandaVision.

In fact, Elizabeth Olsen notably wrapped WandaVision and then flew to London two days later to start filming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Meaning she played Wanda Maximoff nonstop for nearly two years.

So, in order to ensure that Wanda’s storylines in Multiverse of Madness made sense, writer Michael Waldron said he collaborated a lot with Elizabeth, who has “total ownership over Wanda and the Scarlet Witch.”

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Filed under: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel, Press, WandaVision

May 16 2022

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Press: Doctor Strange 2 Writer Responds to WandaVision Fans’ Backlash

THE DIRECT: Even though Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a box office hit, it’s already proven to be one of the MCU’s more contentious additions. Benedict Cumberbatch may have top billing, but Doctor Strange 2 is as much about Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff as it is about the former Sorcerer Supreme; and in light of her character’s journey in WandaVision, her role in the film has led to considerable backlash.

In Olsen’s first scene of the Doctor Strange sequel, she’s established as the villain with full intentions of killing America Chavez to absorb her power. Why? To be with her twin boys who exist in another universe.

For those who watched WandaVision on Disney+, the switch from grieving but accepting heroine to the fully-fledged Scarlet Witch, willing to kill others for alternate versions of her own children, just might be the film’s biggest shocker. And, for some corners of the Marvel fan base, a disservice.

Now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has made its theatrical debut, the writer who penned Wanda’s “Strange” story is explaining why the film’s villain was Wanda all along.

Doctor Strange 2 Writer Reacts to Wanda Maximoff Complaints

In an interview with The Playlist, Doctor Strange 2 writer Michael Waldron responded to fan complaints about how Wanda’s character was handled in Multiverse of Madness, saying, “I guess I would say to the WandaVision fans, like, I get it:”

“I guess I would say to the WandaVision fans, like, I get it. Watching a character you love do bad things sucks. That elicits a strong feeling, which is what we’re trying to do in the movies. We never would have done it if it didn’t feel like the next step in her character journey.”

When fans last saw Wanda on Disney+, she had accepted the loss of Vision and her sitcom family and felt remorse for having hurt the people of Westview. She then retreated to a remote cabin where her astral form studied the Darkhold, all before hearing cries of help from her kids.

And, while it’s no secret to Marvel fans that the Darkhold is bad news, her turn to the role of a villain felt jarring so soon after embracing her personal losses and regretting her Westview mistakes.

But according to Michael Waldron, Wanda’s struggle with grief hadn’t quite reached its conclusion.

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Filed under: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Press, WandaVision

May 15 2022

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Press: X-Men’s Ian McKellen praises Marvel universe daughter Elizabeth Olsen

WE GOT YOU COVERED: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness breaks the mold in many ways, but one of the most exciting is its inclusion of the first crossover between the MCU and the X-Men universe. Patrick Stewart’s Professor X features in an extended cameo in the movie, in which he comes up against Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch. This is a meaningful meeting as Marvel fans will know that Wanda is the daughter of Charles Xavier’s frenemy, Magneto, in the comics.

So, now that the MCU is introducing the X-Men into the fray, does that mean Erik Lensherr could be retconned as Wanda’s biological father in some future project? Elizabeth Olsen sure hopes so as she recently admitted, in an interview with Geek Culture, that she’d love franchise veteran Ian McKellen to play her Marvel dad as she has the “biggest crush on him,” calling him “the sexiest man in the world.”

Brilliantly, McKellen saw Olsen’s comments and has now responded with his own praise for the Emmy-nominated actress, even dropping a hilarious double entendre. “If I had a daughter, I’d hope she’d be like Elizabeth,” the Lord of the Rings actor wrote on Facebook. “A treat to be her Daddy!”

All this has definitely got us wondering if McKellen could ever return as the Master of Magnetism in the MCU. Sure, we thought we’d seen the last of him in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, but Logan was supposed to be Stewart’s final time as Xavier, too, and then Doctor Strange 2 came along. Given that the two performers are such big fans of each other, it would be cruel for Marvel not to unite McKellen and Olsen on screen.

In fact, after her turn to the dark side in Doctor Strange 2, discovering that her birth father is a supervillain terrorist would make for a fascinating latest twist in Scarlet Witch’s saga. Maybe it could happen in that Wanda solo movie Olsen’s asking for.

Filed under: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel, Press, Videos

May 12 2022

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Press: Elizabeth Olsen: ‘I think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the talented crew’

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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Filed under: "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" Press Tour, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel, Press

May 10 2022

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Press: Everyone Is in Love With Elizabeth Olsen in ‘Multiverse of Madness’

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.

Filed under: "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" Press Tour, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel, Press

May 10 2022

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Press: How Elizabeth Olsen Came Into Her Powers

The actress started as an indie darling and never expected to become a Marvel linchpin as Wanda Maximoff. But she’s now so invested in the role, she’s open to a solo film.

Studio Photoshoots > 2022 > Session 006

NY TIMES: Elizabeth Olsen is used to waiting in the wings. When she was an acting student at New York University, she landed an understudy role in the Broadway play “Impressionism,” starring Jeremy Irons. The show ran for 56 performances. Olsen didn’t take the stage a single time.

That sort of lost opportunity could mess with an actress’s mind, but Olsen was never in any hurry to seize the spotlight. Years later, when she was cast as the reality-bending witch Wanda Maximoff in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” her character was more of an ancillary Avenger than the main event, and in three subsequent Marvel films — each with a more overstuffed ensemble of superheroes than the last — Olsen never rose higher than 10th billing.

But a funny thing happened after biding all of that time: “WandaVision,” a sitcom spoof about Wanda and her android husband, became an unexpected phenomenon when it made its debut early last year on Disney+. This month, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which counts Olsen as its co-lead and pits her troubled witch against Benedict Cumberbatch’s goateed sorcerer, has proved even more major. The movie collected $185 million in its first three days of release, ranking 11th among the biggest domestic opening weekends of all time.

For Olsen, who initially made her mark in independent films, this is the equivalent of turning a comic-book page to find yourself the subject of a massive splash panel. During a video call last week, I asked how it felt to come to the fore as a blockbuster leading lady.

“I’m totally mortified!” she said. “I won’t watch it.”

Hours after we spoke, Olsen would walk the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” but she planned to flee the theater as soon as the movie began. “This is pressure I’m feeling for the first time,” she explained. “I have a lot of anxiety with ‘Doctor Strange’ coming out because I’ve never really had to lead a commercial film by myself.”

She coughed, unwrapping a foil package: “Sorry, I have a lozenge.”

Olsen, 33, is casual and friendly, exuding a California glow so powerful that you would hardly know she had been sick for days. “It’s just annoying,” she said, swigging water from a Mason jar. “I think my body really wants to chill out.” She embarked on this global press tour the day after wrapping a seven-and-a-half-month shoot for the HBO limited series “Love and Death,” the sort of packed schedule that also required her to film “WandaVision” and “Doctor Strange” back to back.
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Filed under: "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" Press Tour, Marvel, Photoshoots, Press

May 10 2022

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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

The actress started as an indie darling and never expected to become a Marvel linchpin as Wanda Maximoff. But she’s now so invested in the role, she’s open to a solo film.

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