“The thing I love about being an actor is to fully work with someone and try so hard to be at every level with them, chasing whatever it is you need or want from them.”

Backstage: Elizabeth Olsen grins widely over video chat when recalling many such moments on set with her co-stars. Yet, she can’t bring herself to divorce such a lofty vision of film acting from the technical multitasking it requires. The camera sees all.

“But then you move your hair, and you’re in your brain, like: OK, remember that! Because I don’t want to edit myself out of a shot. I know some actors are like, ‘Continuity, shmontinuity!’ But the good thing about continuity is, if you remember it, you’re actually providing yourself with more options for the edit.”

That need to balance being both inside the scene and outside of it, fully living it and yet constantly visualizing it on a screen, feels particularly apt in light of Olsen’s most recent project, “WandaVision.”

The Disney+ miniseries, which racked up 23 Emmy nominations—including one for Olsen in the outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie category—is rooted in the magical possibilities of living your life as if it were being screened for someone else to watch. Playfully paying homage to TV classics like “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Bewitched,” and “I Love Lucy,” the buzzy Marvel series set in the small town of Westview imagines what various quaint sitcoms starring Wanda Maximoff (Olsen), her beloved, Vision (Paul Bettany), and a requisite pesky next-door neighbor named Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) would look like.
Continue reading  »