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Courteney Cox, Eva Longoria, Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen Creating Custom Desserts for Charity

They are among the stars curating custom desserts in partnership with Los Angeles eateries as part of an America’s Sweetest initiative from Off the Menu with Beverly Center and DoorDash to support EBMRF on National Dessert Day.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Courteney Cox, Eva Longoria, John Stamos, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Bridget Moynahan and Elizabeth Olsen are among the stars showing off their sweet teeth for charity.

Foodie app Off the Menu, Beverly Center and DoorDash announced today the launch of a partnership called America’s Sweetest, a charitable bake sale to support the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation (EBMRF). The one-day initiative is scheduled for Oct. 14 in honor of National Dessert Day, and it finds a roster of names teaming up with local eateries to custom desserts.

Pre-order begins Oct. 9 with day-of pick up on Oct. 14 available at Beverly Center or via DoorDash delivery throughout the Los Angeles area. Dessert boxes cost $125 each with proceeds donated directly to the EBMRF. Individual desserts will be also be made available at the eatery location the day of the event.

The lineup includes: Cox with Little Pine; Haylie Duff with Lou, the French on the Block; Longoria with Porto’s Bakery; Moynahan with Joan’s on Third; Olsen with Just What I Kneaded; Roselyn Sánchez and Eric Winter with Baked by ShaSha; John and Caitlin Stamos with Valerie Confections; and Sam and Aaron Taylor Johnson with Gjusta.

“We’re thrilled to have Off the Menu support EBMRF and create a program in America’s Sweetest we think can continue to grow over the years while sharing our mission of raising funds for this disorder,” said Andrea Joseph, who launched the foundation with husband Paul Joseph to help support research and finding a cure for the condition which their son Brandon has battled his entire life.

Added Off the Menu founder Lawrence Longo: “We know that food can act as a way to connect and educate people. We’re thrilled to be able to create an event like America’s Sweetest that will allow us to raise money for EBMRF while putting together a ‘care package’ that any food lover and especially those with a sweet tooth will obsess over.”

Imagined by Off The Menu, the initiative follows its Burger Showdown and Wing Showdown competitions held over the summer. As part of America’s Sweetest, Off the Menu will host videos from each celebrity participant on its website and platform. More information about the initiative can be found here

Filed under: Charity, Press, Videos

October 10 2020

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Press: Elizabeth Reads a Story for Save the Children #SaveWitbStories

Elizabetth also read a story for Save the Children

SAVE THE CHILDREN DONATE AND HELP #SAVEWITHSTORIES

From Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams:

Across the country, schools are shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic. But millions of children in the U.S. go to school not just to learn, but also for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. That’s why we came up with @savewithstories.

In partnership with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, we’re offering stories on Instagram and Facebook to provide fun and education to kids and parents stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak. Your donation will help Save the Children and No Kid Hungry make sure schools and community programs have the support they need to keep brains and bellies full. You’re also supporting our important work to meet the health, education and nutrition needs of kids in other countries impacted by coronavirus. Can you please help?

Click here to donate.

Filed under: Charity, Press, Videos

June 22 2020

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Press: Stuck at home with kids? Your favorite Disney characters will read you a story

This is from Easter

LA TIMES – Once upon a time, famous actors, musicians and authors united during a pandemic to ease children’s anxieties through storytelling.

Dolly Parton, Amy Adams, Josh Gad, Jennifer Garner, Constance Wu, Natalie Portman, Lupita Nyong’o, Reese Witherspoon, Gal Gadot, Camila Cabello, Kerry Washington and others are lending their voices to “Operation Storytime,” “Save With Stories” and more initiatives aimed at lifting kids’ — and parents’ — spirits amid coronavirus-induced uncertainty.

Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars”), Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana”), Ginnifer Goodwin (“Zootopia”), Tony Hale (“Toy Story 4″), Ming-Na Wen (“Mulan”) and more Disney stars are among the latest public figures to join the literary crusade, reciting picture-book tales based on their own beloved characters.

And Parton recently launched a series called “Goodnight With Dolly,” in which the country music legend reads bedtime stories every Thursday.

Here’s how it works: Participants post social media videos of themselves reading various children’s books aloud to entertain self-quarantined families whose children are no longer in school because of public health concerns.

Here is Elizabeth’s:

To a mystery… and beyond! Track down the Easter Bunny with Rex and the Toy Story gang in this tale from "5-Minute Easter Stories," read by Elizabeth Olsen. #DisneyMagicMoments pic.twitter.com/lOAltB4H9I

— Disney (@Disney) April 12, 2020

Filed under: Charity, Press, Videos

April 22 2020

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Press: Sorry for Your Loss is a must-see TV show. You can only watch it on Facebook.

Elizabeth Olsen plays a young widow in this thoughtful and loving series about navigating grief.

VOX – In Watch This, Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff tells you what she’s watching on TV — and why you should watch it, too. Read the archives here. This week: Sorry for Your Loss, which airs on Facebook Watch.

Every article about the TV show Sorry for Your Loss must cover the following bullet points, as though they are recorded in the Constitution:

It’s a brilliantly devastating little drama, full of light and love
Its amazing cast is anchored by the sweet and soulful Elizabeth Olsen
It airs on Facebook Watch, so good luck finding it [insert boilerplate about how Facebook is destroying the planet]

All of the above, so far as it goes, is true. Sorry for Your Loss is a terrific show — one of TV’s best — but the fact that it’s sequestered within a section of Facebook that seems almost intentionally difficult to find means that extremely few people have seen it. I watched the entire second season via screener and I could not possibly imagine how anyone would organically stumble upon the show on Facebook, short of just Googling it.

And that’s why I’m writing about Sorry for Your Loss and linking to it here — I really want people to watch it. What the show does is in short supply on TV right now, and if it doesn’t get a third season (season two just ended on Tuesday, November 19), I might have to finally get mad at Mark Zuckerberg.

So what does it do that’s so unique and interesting? I’m glad you asked.

Sorry for Your Loss somehow turns the debilitating process of grief into a TV show

When I first learned the premise of Sorry for Your Loss — a young widow named Leigh (Olsen) tries to live in the wake of her husband’s death — I had the same thought that many others probably did: How in the world is that enough for a TV show? A movie, sure. A novel, absolutely. A stage play, I’m writing it right now! But a TV show? One that will air week after week after week? It can’t possibly work.

I was wrong. What makes Sorry for Your Loss so good is that it understands grief isn’t a neat arc with a beginning and an end. It’s a process of atomization. An incident happens and your whole body feels like it’s engulfed in the flames of a nuclear blast. But with every passing day, it dissipates a little more and a little more. You’re able to do more, to get out of bed, to resume your life. But you always live with the residue of what happened. Your body is now radioactive, no matter how much the most immediately deadly elements dull with time. You learn how to live with grief; you don’t learn how to defeat it.

Filed under: Press, Sorry For Your Loss

November 24 2019

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Press/Gallery: Elizabeth Olsen Is Ready to Make Some Mistakes

At 30 years old, she’s executive producing and starring in an emotionally intense show, while filming a secret new project — and she doesn’t think it’s going to be easy.

Gallery Links:

Studio Photoshoots > 2019 > Session 010

INSTYLE – God damnit!” Elizabeth Olsen is sighing to herself — in an exasperated, this-is-the-last-thing-I-need-today kind of way — on the other end of our phone call. She only has 27 minutes to do this interview during her lunch break, she explains, and her water bottle just rolled under a car. Now, she’s trying to catch it.

The clock is ticking — down to 26 minutes, then to 25 — but I’m not too upset. It’s a relatable moment, and that’s sort of Olsen’s overall vibe. On the set of InStyle’s photoshoot, she reminded me a bit of that girl from high school — the one who was cool, but still friends with everyone. For a moment, you’re able to forget that the actress is related to mega-famous twins, or stars in Marvel movies (plus an upcoming WandaVision TV show), or is an executive producer on her Facebook Watch series, Sorry For Your Loss, in which she also plays the lead.

That last credit is the reason that we’re talking. I recently spent hours sobbing into my phone while watching nearly two seasons of Olsen as Leigh, a young woman experiencing the many stages of grief after the death of her husband. It’s not exactly a lighthearted show, but there are a few funny moments and complicated (yet highly intriguing) love stories.

“We really wanted to focus on the smallest of moments in season one,” Olsen explains, making me recall how Leigh struggled to return to her job or celebrate her birthday. “But in season two, we wanted Leigh to start off in a different place. The thing that I really wanted to work on with Kit [Steinkellner, the show’s writer and creator], was this feeling of momentum and propulsion forward. We try to take bigger risks and make bigger mistakes.”

As someone who is fully caught up on the show — which is currently on season two; a new episode is released every Tuesday — I can confidently say there are a lot of gasp-worthy moments. Risks and mistakes, especially on Leigh’s end, are aplenty.

What wasn’t a mistake, however, was having Olsen work behind the camera on the series, not just in front of. During our call, she talks at length about the experience — how much she enjoys being part of the creative process, from first draft to final cut; how she’s finally confident enough to give honest opinions; how she feels like she’s adding value. People will probably think this is boring, she tells me, but it’s nice to hear how dedicated and passionate the star is.

“It’s exhausting and you don’t get weekends,” she adds, going over her schedule, which lasts 10 months (as opposed to the four it takes to film). “It’s not just memorizing lines or doing your character study. You’re trying to make sure certain outlines sound good for three episodes from now, or that drafts look good, or edits. You give notes on that. It’s a much busier experience then just getting to be an actor, but it’s really fulfilling.”

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Filed under: Photoshoots, Press

November 01 2019

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Press: Elizabeth Olsen Shared Details About “WandaVision”

Gallery Links:

STUDIO PHOTOSHOOTS > 2019 > SESSION 008

PUBLIC APPEARANCES > 2019 > OCT 10: BUZZ FEED’ S AM TO DM

Buzz Feed – Attention, Marvel fans: Elizabeth Olsen is on board with the idea of an all-women superhero movie.

Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, told BuzzFeed News’ AM to DM morning show that such a movie would have a “huge impact.”

“I think people really love these characters,” she said. “I feel like all the men in Marvel movies have done such a brilliant job with satisfying a lot of things our audiences want, and they’re funny and they’re talented. And so are all the women. And to give them more screentime, I think, would be a huge impact because comics aren’t just for boys who want to watch big boys.”

Fans were thrilled by a scene from Avengers: Endgame in which all the Marvel women joined forces to protect the Infinity Gauntlet.

So it won’t come as too much of a surprise that Brie Larson, aka Captain Marvel, told Variety earlier this week the idea of an all-women movie had been “truly discussed” at the highest levels of Marvel.

“I will say that a lot of the female cast members from Marvel walked up to [Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige] and we were like, ‘We are in this together, we want to do this,’” Larson told Variety, adding: “You know, I’m not in charge of the future of Marvel, but it is something that we’re really passionate about and we love and I feel like if enough people out in the world talk about how much they want it, maybe it’ll happen.”

Olsen said it’s important that Marvel makes films to cater to its diverse fanbase — which includes many women. “Especially when you go to conventions, you really see that,” she said.
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Filed under: Appearances, Interviews, Photoshoots, Press, Sorry For Your Loss, Videos, WandaVision

October 13 2019

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Press: Elizabeth Olsen Moves On in ‘Sorry for Your Loss’

ETOnline – Elizabeth Olsen is moving forward with her life.

In Facebook Watch’s half-hour drama, Sorry for Your Loss, Olsen returns as Leigh Shaw, a young widow struggling to put her life back together following her husband’s unexpected death. The upcoming second season continues Leigh’s complicated journey as she navigated the aftershocks of loss and tries to move on amid revelations of the timeline of her husband’s death.

ET exclusively debuts the first official photos from the sophomore run — six in all — which returns cast members Kelly Marie Tran as Leigh’s sister, Jules; Jovan Adepo as Leigh’s brother-in-law, Danny; Mamoudou Athie as Leigh’s late husband, Matt; and Janet McTeer as Leigh and Jules’ mother, Amy.

Singer-songwriter Julia Michaels also wrote a special song, titled “If You Need Me,” for the new season, inspired by the community formed from the first season, as well as the stories and comments shared by the Sorry for Your Loss official Facebook group. Michaels met with survivors of grief, whose meetings informed the lyrics to the song.

“Even when someone is not with you, you can still feel them with you. I wanted the chorus to be ‘If you need me, I’m there’… even if I can’t physically be there, I’m still there,” Michaels said. “That can be about the person that isn’t visibly here anymore, and it can be about the community they have built within Sorry for Your Loss.”

Creator Kit Steinkellner and season one showrunner Lizzy Weiss spoke to ET last October about exploring the different ways each of their characters experiences grief and the difficult conversations they have about it.

“This is a show that is empathetic to our characters, for all their flaws and shortcomings. They really are trying their best. We love them dearly. We hope what we’re saying about sensitive issues is just in the way we love and support our characters, we love and support the people in our lives who are struggling with these issues and ultimately, our show advocates for understanding and kindness above all else,” Steinkellner said.

“We don’t talk, particularly in American culture, about death. It felt terrifying to most of us, because we have not been raised in a culture where we ask people in our lives, ‘What do you want if you go?’ These are really, really hard questions,” Weiss added. “What is fascinating is there is now a zeitgeist for shows that are touching on grief right now. Maybe there is a movement that’s happening to get people to think about grief and loss differently and face it and have conversations most people don’t have.”

Sorry for Your Loss returns Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET with the first three episodes on Facebook Watch.

Gallery Link:

TV Series > Sorry For Your Loss (2018) > Season 2 > Episode Stills

Filed under: Press, Sorry For Your Loss

September 22 2019

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Press: Scarlet Witch Could Defeat Thanos One-on-One, Says Kevin Feige

SCREENRANT – Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige thinks Thanos would have been in trouble without his army in Avengers: Endgame, confirming that Scarlet Witch would have defeated him in a one-on-one battle. In the MCU, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff is portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen, who made her Marvel debut with Captain America: The Winter Solider. In that film, she shows up in a mid-credits scene where she’s held captive by Baron Strucker. Scarlet Witch then appears with her brother, Quicksilver, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, though her brother ultimately dies saving Hawkeye and a child. Scarlet Witch has since fought with the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

At Comic-Con 2019, Marvel discussed Scarlet Witch’s future role in the MCU and on the small screen. She’ll first appear in WandaVision, a TV series for Disney’s upcoming Disney+ streaming service. WandaVision will debut spring of 2021 and feature both Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s Vision. However, it’s unclear how Vision will be brought back, as he died in Avengers: Infinity War. Immediately following WandaVision, Scarlet Witch will feature in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which has a May 7, 2021 release date. Marvel Studios also confirmed that her storyline in the second Doctor Strange will connect to the events of WandaVision.

In an interview with Comic Book (via CBR), Feige shared his belief that Scarlet Witch could have defeated Thanos on her own in Avengers: Endgame. Speaking of her abilities, he said, “Wanda Maximoff, who is probably near the upper echelons of power – I contend she would have taken down Thanos if he hadn’t called the [army], it was done.” Feige also talked about Scarlet Witch’s role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, explaining, “…her being the Scarlet Witch now, as Lizzie said on stage in a full sort of unabashed power-based [way], coming into the Doctor Strange movie, that is two heroes coming together in a fun way.” Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange are two of the most powerful characters in the MCU, so Feige’s comments clarify why a partnership between the two makes sense.

In the comics, Scarlet Witch receives her powers when she’s born a mutant with superhuman abilities. Her character debuted in The X-Men #4 during the Silver Age of Comic Books. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are originally villains, similar to the way the siblings first sided with Ultron in the films. Scarlet Witch first has general hex powers but slowly becomes more powerful as her story goes on. She eventually gains the power to cause specific events and manipulate magic. In the comics, Scarlet Witch is the only one who scares the powerful Phoenix Five.

Feige’s declaration that Scarlet Witch could have defeated Thanos in Avengers: Endgame may seem bold but makes complete sense given her powers. Though they haven’t been shown as much on-screen as in the comics, she’s still a powerful being in the MCU. While most of the original Avengers and supporting characters have one major skill, Scarlet Witch’s powers are broader and thus more inline with the powers of Thanos. Plus, with Thanos responsible for Vision’s death, Scarlet Witch had a more personal reason to take the villain down than some other Avengers. Given Feige’s comments, Thanos made the right decision calling for backup rather than facing Scarlet Witch alone.

Filed under: Avengers: Endgame, Marvel, Press

August 01 2019

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Press: Could Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ Adapt a Fan Favorite Comic?

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Elizabeth Olsen’s Disney+ series could be primed to take on ‘House of M,’ the 2005 event story in which Scarlet Witch remade reality following a personal tragedy.

Scarlet Witch, one of comics’ most powerful and complex characters, is arguably the most underserved Avenger in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ upcoming streaming series for Disney+, aims to change all that.

The mutant offspring of Magneto in the comics, an “enhanced” member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the MCU, Wanda Maximoff is an exceptionally complicated, broken-not-sprained character in any medium. No better was this explored than in one of Marvel’s greatest stories, the game-changing and tragic House of M, a 2005 event comic from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel in which Wanda reshaped all of reality after the loss of her children. In her new world, mutants reigned supreme, while normal humans were second-class citizens.

Now that the X-Men are back under Marvel Studios’ roof, Wanda and the MCU seem primed to mine some of the rich drama that the House of M built. In doing so, the Disney+ show — which, when first announced, was met with puzzlement bordering on indifference by fandom — could become as important to Marvel’s live-action future as M was to its comic legacy.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re gonna get weird, get deep and finally understand Wanda Maximoff as Scarlet Witch.” That was the edict revealed from the stage of Marvel’s Hall H panel when Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige announced the overall narrative strategy behind the upcoming WandaVision series, slated for release Spring 2021 on Disney+ and set to spill into the horror-tinged Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, opening May 7, 2021 and also to feature Olsen’s Wanda.

WandaVision, set after Avengers: Endgame, aims to explore the fallout Vision’s death has on Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen). The best, and most readily available, way to deliver on that is to tell the House of M story through the MCU’s lens.

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Filed under: Marvel, Press, WandaVision

July 25 2019

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Press: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Officially Announced; Will Also Star Elizabeth Olsen

COMIC BOOK – In addition to her own Disney+ series, the Scarlet Witch Elizabeth Olsen has also been confirmed to co-star in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is arguably one of the coolest film titles ever given in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Benedict Cumberbatch will, of course, return as the Sorcerer Supreme and the film has also been rumored to feature the return of Benedict Wong as Wong, although he wasn’t formally announced during tonight’s presentation.

While the film is still in the pre-production phase as it won’t debut until May 7, 2021, director Scott Derrickson did share a chilling tease, “We are going to make the first scary MCU film,” although Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige did jokingly respond with “It’s gonna be PG-13 and you’re going to like it!”

Just announced in Hall H at #SDCC, Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS with Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen. Scott Derrickson returns as director. In theaters May 7, 2021. pic.twitter.com/HtF68htiB1

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) July 21, 2019

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

Feige introduced the second film in the “Doctor Strange” franchise, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and called the director, Scott Derrickson, and star Benedict Cumberbatch to the stage to a rousing welcome.

In a surprise twist, Feige brought out Elizabeth Olsen, who also stars in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and they talked about how “WandaVision”—the Disney+ series that Olsen will star in as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch—connects directly to the feature-film storyline.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” hits theaters on May 7, 2021.

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

July 22 2019

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