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Elizabeth Olsen won’t sign any film that isn’t guaranteed a theatrical release because, she says, people need to “be together in a space”. The actor says she prefers her work to be more of a theatre experience and doesn’t want streaming to become an “end-all”. “If a movie is made independently and only sells to a streamer, then fine. But I don’t want to make something where it’s the end-all,” Olsen told InStyle magazine. “I think it’s important for people to gather as a community, to see other humans, be together in a space. That’s why I like sports. I think it’s really powerful for people to come together for something that they’re excited about. We don’t even audition in person anymore.” In the new interview, Olsen, who is gearing up for the release of her latest film Eternity, also talks about one of her most popular roles as Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Olsen first appeared as Maximoff in a post-credits scene in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and went on to become a staple of the MCU. She has portrayed the villain in five Marvel films already. In 2021, she led her own standalone WandaVision miniseries about her character living an idealised life in suburbia. The last time fans saw her character was in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Wanda ended up sacrificing herself at the end of the film. Asked whether Wanda ended up surviving , Olsen replied: “No idea.” The Martha Marcy May Marlene star defended Marvel movies against the criticism that superhero franchises were “not cinema”, explaining the films gave her “financial security”. “It’s financial security, I can make choices. It’s offered me value, and that's useful when making independent movies,” she said. “Making the films are fun. Goofy. It’s ridiculous. We’re grown people like children on a playground,” Olsen said. “We’re flying. We’re shooting things out of our hands. And it’s a character that I’ve gotten to return to so many times after over 10 years. It’s good to put her down and then I miss her and I want her back. I’d jump at the opportunity to be in her shoes again.” Martin Scorsese first weighed in on the topic in 2019, saying that superhero franchise films were “not cinema” and “we shouldn’t be invaded by it”. Quentin Tarantino expressed a similar view against “the Marvel-isation of Hollywood” while promoting his new book, Cinema Speculation. “You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” the Kill Bill director said. “But they’re not movie stars...Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star.” Olsen returned as Wanda Maximoff for Marvel’s new horror-themed spinoff series Marvel Zombies, appearing in three of its four episodes. However, she revealed that she had almost no recollection of the plot or of recording her lines. “I recorded that so long ago, I’m sorry. It's so crazy that…I feel terrible that I don't…I can't speak more to it,” she told Instyle, adding that she only remembered a suitcase with “microphones and a script” being delivered a few years ago. In late September, Olsen told fans at LA Comic Con that she had filmed it in 2020-21 and didn’t remember much about the experience. “I truly recorded that years ago,” she said. “I can’t remember anything. I need to watch it. I have no idea what happens in Marvel Zombies.” “I filmed it. It’s my voice. I did it in my house, I wasn’t even in an office space. This must have been 2020-21? Why was I working in my house and not in a studio? I really have no idea what it was like. I’m so sorry.”
