Welcome to Elizabeth Olsen Source: your best source for all things related to Elizabeth Olsen. Elizabeth's breakthrough came in 2011 when she starred in critically-acclaimed movies Martha Marcy May Marlene and Silent House. She made her name in indie movies until her role in 2014 blockbuster Godzilla and then as Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff in Marvel's Avengersand Captain America movies. Elizabeth starred in and was an Executive Producer for Facebook Watch's "Sorry For Your Loss". She is currently starring in WandaVision, the first Marvel TV Series on Disney+. She will also be in Marvel's Dr. Strange sequel and hopefully we'll see another indie movie from her! Enjoy the many photos(including lots of exclusives!), articles, and videos on our site!
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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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May 10 2022
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.

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.

May 10 2022
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.

 

 

 

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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May 10 2022
Press: Elizabeth Olsen Talks Wanda’s Shocking [SPOILER] in ‘Doctor Strange 2,’ and the Hardest Scene for Her to Play

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points of Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” currently in theaters. Do not read until you’ve seen the movie.

VARIETY: Practically from the moment that Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige announced that Elizabeth Olsen would star in the Disney+ series “WandaVision,” he also made clear that the events of that show would tie into Olsen’s subsequent appearance as Wanda Maximoff in the feature film “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

What Feige did not reveal — and what Disney carefully obscured in its marketing for the film right up to its release in theaters — is that Wanda doesn’t show up as Strange’s compatriot in “Multiverse of Madness”: She’s the villain.

At the end of “WandaVision,” Wanda fully accepts her identity as the Scarlet Witch, one of the most powerful wielders of magic in the universe. But she also has to release her grip on the town of Westview to free its citizens of mind control. In doing so, she abandons her children Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne), who can only exist within Wanda’s magic spell over Westview.
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May 09 2022
Press: Elizabeth Olsen Reveals Why She Gets ‘Feisty’ When People Criticize Marvel Movies

“I’m not saying we’re making indie art films,” Olsen said

HUFFPOST:The Scarlet Witch’s wrath might be deadly, but Elizabeth Olsen says she only gets a “little feisty” when people criticize Marvel movies.

While absolutely nobody needs to feel bad for a studio raking in box-office receipts by the billions, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has attracted a handful of high-profile detractors in recent years, including directors Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve and Jane Campion, who’ve all essentially laid the death of cinema at its feet.

Olsen — who’s appeared in a string of Marvel projects since 2015, including the recent “Doctor Strange” sequel — understands the feedback, but she’s also pushing back against those who make superhero films “seem like a lesser type of art.”

“I’m not saying we’re making indie art films, but I just think it takes away from our crew, which bugs me,” she said in a new interview with The Independent. “These are some of the most amazing set designers, costume designers, camera operators ― I feel diminishing them with that kind of criticism takes away from all the people who do award-winning films, that also work on these projects.”

“From an actor’s point of view, whatever, I get it; I totally understand that there’s a different kind of performance that’s happening,” she continued. “But I do think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the hundreds of very talented crew people. That’s where I get a little feisty about that.”

Olsen got her start in a string of critically acclaimed indie films, including her big-screen debut in the 2011 thriller “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” before moving on to big-budget, special-effects-heavy fare.

Her latest Marvel blockbuster, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” arrived in theaters this weekend to the tune of an estimated $185 million in ticket sales, the biggest opening of any film in 2022.

As for whether she’ll return to her roots, Olsen has learned to keep her options open and the haters out of mind, adding that she’s ready to play in the Marvel sandbox again as long as “there’s a good idea attached to it.”

Noting that she initially was only contracted to appear in two movies and a cameo, Olsen said, “It continues to be a surprise when they want to use me for more projects.”

Next up for the actor, however, is a project hailing from an entirely different genre.

Olsen is set to star in “Love and Death,” an upcoming HBO Max limited series from writer and executive producer David E. Kelley about the true and very grisly story of Texas housewife Candy Montgomery, who famously killed her best friend from church with an ax.

May 09 2022
Gallery/Video: “Live with Kelly and Ryan” and “Saturday Night Live”

 

 

Lizzie also dropped by Saturday Night Live when her “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Maddness” co-star, Doctor Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch.

 

May 09 2022
Gallery/Videos: “The Kelly Clarkson Show”

The whole “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” cast joined Kelly Clarkson on her show for discussions about the movie and a trivia game called ‘That’ll Do the Trick’.

 

May 09 2022
Interview/Gallery: The enchanting Elizabeth Olsen

 

 

HARPER’S BAZAAR: Elizabeth Olsen is ready for me. In a cosy room of a London hotel, she gets up from her chair to greet me, refreshingly bright-eyed for a Monday morning. She introduces herself warmly as “Lizzie” and asks if I want anything to drink. It’s immediately clear that there aren’t many parallels between her and her antiheroine alias, the Scarlet Witch (also known as Wanda). For one thing, Olsen is very funny; she’s also supremely likeable. But she does hold herself with a certain soft power, today dressed in a grey Barbara Bui suit, an acid-pink knitted rollneck and chunky black lace-up shoes from Clergerie.

Elizabeth Olsen is ready for me. In a cosy room of a London hotel, she gets up from her chair to greet me, refreshingly bright-eyed for a Monday morning. She introduces herself warmly as “Lizzie” and asks if I want anything to drink. It’s immediately clear that there aren’t many parallels between her and her antiheroine alias, the Scarlet Witch (also known as Wanda). For one thing, Olsen is very funny; she’s also supremely likeable. But she does hold herself with a certain soft power, today dressed in a grey Barbara Bui suit, an acid-pink knitted rollneck and chunky black lace-up shoes from Clergerie.

“I love playing characters whose actions people disagree with,” she says, tucking her cropped blonde hair behind her ears. “In a world where we don’t really care to understand other points of view, I feel like if we as an audience can have empathy for people we don’t agree with, that’s a good thing.” One of the most powerful figures in the Marvel Universe, Wanda straddles the morally dubious line between good and evil, and this is what interests Olsen about her; the characters she is most drawn to are the complex, knotty ones that need untangling. “Then I can kind of be their lawyer and defend them. I get behind their actions, even if I don’t agree with them,” she explains. She has recently wrapped an HBO series called Love and Death, which follows the true story of Candy Montgomery, who murdered a woman with an axe and acted as though it didn’t happen. “I adored playing her,” she says. “People would ask: ‘Are you going to play her as a sociopath?’ And I was like, ‘No, why would I do that? I’m going to try and understand how someone would be able to compartmentalise this until they were caught.”
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May 05 2022