Elizabeth Olsen may be best known for starring in a billion-dollar franchise, but she still holds her indie roots close.
Three years after her breakthrough in the 2011 indie film “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” a Sundance darling that cost less than $1 million to make, Olsen would make her first in a decade’s worth of appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.
She said taking the role was a smart — not to mention lucrative — decision. But while Olsen told Business Insider the storytelling possibilities are “endless” in the MCU, it’s important she diversifies her work outside blockbusters.
“Those other choices you make are incredibly important because they say so much about what your passion is,” Olsen said.
That led her to her latest role in Fleur Fortuné’s new dystopian sci-fi thriller, “The Assessment.” Olsen and Himesh Patel star as Mia and Aaryan, a couple who agree to undergo an emotionally grueling seven-day assessment to determine if they’re fit to have children.
Olsen was intrigued by the dystopian premise of “The Assessment” and the opportunity to work with Fortuné, whom she described as an incredible visual filmmaker.
“I loved the game and the rules of the game that these characters had to play together,” Olsen said. “I loved how contained something that took place in a near future time was. And I really love stories that play by their own rules.”
As an independent film, “The Assessment” offered a more intimate atmosphere, one that allowed Fortuné, Olsen, Patel, and their costar Alicia Vikander to become their own indie version of the Avengers: “I really felt like we were our own little troupe.”
For the latest interview in Business Insider’s Role Play series, Olsen reflects on auditioning for police procedurals, the best advice she ever got, and how starring in Marvel projects has bolstered her indie career.
On auditioning for anything and everything early in her career
Business Insider: You have an affinity for playing characters who are going through a lot emotionally, going as far back as your film debut in “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” What draws you to these heavier roles?
Elizabeth Olsen: With “Martha,” I mean, I auditioned for everything around that time. I auditioned for “Blue Bloods,” I auditioned for “CSI” whatever it was, I auditioned for “Law & Order.” I auditioned for all of the things and it just happened to be a job that I got. I would have said yes to any job because I just wanted to be a working actor. I just happened to be very lucky that it was a script that I was totally obsessed with and a character that I was really fighting for.
I don’t mean to put myself through any kind of extreme experience, but I do think the extremities of what it means to be a person in the world are more interesting to explore.
The things that I’m really drawn to right now are: What are prototypes or characters that we’ve seen before, and then how can we subvert them in some way? At least on the job I’m on right now, that’s how I feel.
You got to work with Spike Lee on the 2013 “Oldboy” remake. What was it like working with a famed director so early in your career?
You could have told me to do anything with him, and I would have done it. I loved getting to work with him. He is also such a kind filmmaker. He’s so kind to his crew. He’s kind to his cast. He has such a boyishness to him and to get to work with him was really such a dream.
He has such a canon that it’s amazing that I keep watching movies of his that I hadn’t seen before. I just watched “School Daze” recently, twice, and I am such a fan of his work, and continue to be. I feel lucky that I got to work with him.
On being ‘petrified’ on the set of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and why Marvel characters are like Greek heroes
It’s also been 10 years since you played Wanda in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” With all that time and hindsight, is there anything that you look back on and view differently about that movie or your experience working on it?
Oh, I was petrified. I was so scared. I didn’t know how to take up space at all. And I felt good, actually, about that film. I think we established a foundation for her that we kept building off of.
It’s really nice to have had 10 years with the character. I have to say, it’s something you don’t always get to have unless you’re doing television. So, if someone asked me to do it again in 50 years, I hope I’m still around to play a very old version of her [Laughs].
Hey, if Hugh Jackman can do it, so can you.
Yeah!
After the events of “Doctor Strange 2,” there’s a big question mark surrounding your character. Do you feel like there’s unfinished business, or more to explore after Wanda’s villain arc in that movie?
I don’t know if I feel like there’s unfinished business, but I always feel like there’s room to explore. I think the comic books have been going on for so many decades that there is such endless story that you can always go back to.
How we make it work for the world that we’ve established, I’m not sure. But I do think you can always keep going back with these characters. They’re like iconic Greek heroes, basically. And there’s always stories to be had with those types of prototypes.
On finding success outside the MCU and the role that marked a turning point
The MCU is vast, but all those projects can be time consuming. How have you navigated the balance of playing this character that you care about for so long and also getting to explore other material outside of that, like indie movies and TV series like “Sorry for Your Loss,” “Ingrid Goes West,” and “Wind River”?
Well, it’s just scheduling, I guess, at the end of the day. Sometimes things don’t always work out, but I think those types of choices become really important, because if you’re only doing Marvel projects, the way other producers or directors see you, they might make assumptions that you don’t want to work on something super small, or you don’t want to work on TV, and so your choices have to reflect what your interests are.
I think sometimes that was hard for me because of what I was being offered, and sometimes I’ve taken advantage of it in a way that I’m proud of, but it’s been a real balance to learn from.
Was it a confidence boost for you to see the positive reactions to those things outside blockbusters? How did those movies and shows affect how you have viewed your career trajectory?
I think you do a job because you want to feel fulfilled by the skill that you’re trying to improve upon. “Sorry for Your Loss” for two years was one of the best [examples]. There’s so many hours that were put into that, from pitching it with just a pilot to finishing the sound and the color correction on it.
It was something that for two years of my life, I got to learn so much from, and I think that was a big moment that I started to find a different kind of fulfillment out of this job and a different kind of commitment. And I think it’s just because of the hours you spend, just like anything else.
So when people write anything positive about your work, of course your ego is grateful because then you think eyes will see it, and then you get a bit more of a boost of the next projects coming in, which is the goal.
On her Marvel star power opening doors to more opportunities and feeling empowered to say no
Speaking more broadly, what’s the best business decision that you ever made for your career?
Probably doing Marvel, because if you’re thinking about business, you’re thinking about how you’re able to take care of, I guess, a short-term future and a long-term future.
Marvel has allowed me to bring eyes and potentially money to projects that are very small and maybe wouldn’t have been seen in other iterations. So I think that’s been very helpful from a business perspective.
There’s a piece of advice that you’ve mentioned that has really guided you: “No” is a full sentence. Can you share a time in your career when you felt empowered to put that advice into practice?
Well, the ones that first come up, I wouldn’t want to share those because it is very empowering to say no, and I’m also very private with the things I say no to. But it’s an important thing to know that regardless of your own status or power dynamic, you always have that power.
I think the biggest one that I can think of — without saying anything about it — I look back in hindsight, and I think, “How did I have the confidence to say that?” Because I wasn’t in a position of power. It was very early in my career and I felt so confident to just speak what my boundaries were. So yeah, I think that’s always good advice.
It was probably being green that empowered you to just say that, right?
Yeah, like, “Whatever! This is what it is. You can either take it or leave it.” I think I became even better at it later. But yeah, I think it is an important thing for everyone.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
“The Assessment” is now in theaters.
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