Elizabeth Olsen Has a Hard Time Not Spoiling Marvel's WandaVision

Our next guest is a talented actress you know from films such as Wind River, Ingrid Goes West, and the Avengers and Captain America franchises. She returns as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel's WandaVision, which is currently streaming on Disney+. Let's take a look. ♪♪ Wanda. Yes, dear. Are you using your powers to turn on the light? Yes, dear. Allow me, sweetheart. What do you see? Only your lovely rose bushes. That's all? Are you using your night vision vision? I assure you, my love, I see nothing amiss. You have absolutely no reason to be... Oh! You were saying? Please welcome back to the show Elizabeth Olsen. Hi, Lizzie. How are you? Hi. I'm good. How are you doing? I'm doing well. You're joining us from London. Hopefully, it's not too late there. I mean, I know how late it is. I understand time zones. But hopefully, it's not past your bedtime. No, it's fine. I mean, I'm, like, properly caffeinated, I think, and have the shakes, so I think I'm ready. Now, I think a lot of people living in the States long for travel and the idea of escaping the sort of COVID existence we're living here. But London, sadly, is no party either. No. I was really excited to come to London because it sounded far more open than L.A. and New York were most of the year last year. And I got here the day before they announced their second lockdown. And then the world opened up for three weeks here, and we have been living in a lockdown since, like, mid-December and will be till March. Well, it is outstanding wallpaper. I will say that. I feel like my skin's blending into it. Like, I'm kind of worried about this, like, weird light that's on my face. No, you look great. It's a perfect match. It's so nice when actor and wallpaper can coexist the way you are right now. Great. That was my goal. It's a treasure map. I'm in a children's room in my rental. -♪♪ So, this show is so very good. I'm glad that we're talking after four episodes because whenever you talk to anyone in a Marvel project like this, you cannot talk ahead at all. And I feel like after four episodes, we at least have a better sense of what this show is about. Has it been hard doing press about – I feel like, of the Marvel projects, this one maybe has more secrecy and more twists behind it as any. Yeah, it's really complicated. I want to talk about all the sitcoms. I want to talk about how it's, like, sitcom but not just a sitcom and how do you tease that and keep people interested who want the action and then get new people interested in the sitcom part and hopefully you don't lose them in the action. So, yeah, but it's always fun. I mean, it's fun to see fan reactions. I think that's what I look forward to most. I mean this with all sincerity. One of the joys of watching this show is realizing that you would have been a great actor in literally every generation of sitcoms. Because you are so good and authentic in these styles from the 50s and 60s and 70s. That must have been one of the most fun parts of doing this. It was. It was so – I mean, I feel like any actor has – it feels like a gift when you get to do a period piece or a genre piece. And we got to do that every single episode and change what that was and try and replicate even, like, the lenses, the lighting, mannerisms. The whole thing was just – And then also getting to, like, nod to so many beautiful sitcoms. And then I had Katherine Hahn by my side, who is just the queen of all things comedy. And so it was – And then obviously Paul Bettany did such a great job with all the physical comedy and was very Dick Van Dyke. And it's been such a – It was a really big joy and really, really hard. But it was a lot of fun. You filmed the first – This was, of course, before COVID. But you filmed the first episode, I believe, in front of a live studio audience. Was that – I mean, I imagine that's not something that you had done before. How was that? I've only done, you know, theater before and then, like, going on your show or, like, other shows like it. And I get way more nervous for these kinds of things than anything else. I feel like I was really nervous before with the sitcom because it was our first time filming this show. And it was in front of an audience. So we were just, like, filming our failure. If, you know, if it were going to fail, it was going to fail in front of a bunch of people. But then I get into a rhythm because I know how to – I feel like I know how to do my job. But this, I don't know how to do, ever. And, like, I have to do breathing exercises before, like, seeing your friendly face. Do you – So are you enjoying this era of getting to do sort of this press junket without having to come to an actual studio where you have to do breathing exercises? Yeah. You know, I don't know. I feel like the trap door usually freaks me out before entering the stage on night shows. But I like seeing you in person. And so it's a bit strange, but I really don't miss a junket. You know, the four-minute cycle for 12 hours of strangers and some familiar faces. But that's nicer from home. You sort of mentioned that this is a show, and, you know, obviously a universe where there's a great amount of fan interaction with it. And I feel as though with Easter eggs and with characters from different parts of this universe showing up, is that ever something that you did with a show where, you know, it would air and then you would sort of go and read about it in that sort of recap-y fan service way? No, I'm, like, anti, like, looking at everything on the Internet, generally speaking, when it comes to something I'm passionate about, because I don't want anyone else's ideas. I don't want spoilers. I usually binge Game of Thrones after it's on air, so I'm really good at avoiding stuff. And, yeah, so, no. I also never cared about, like, anything that much as a child to, like, seek out, I don't know, forums or something. The weird thing, and I think it really speaks to the fact that I was probably a child a lot longer ago than you. But, like, I feel like I would have been. I don't think I had those. Yeah, right, I was like, yeah, why didn't I do that? Oh, right, because it was, like, in the back of a comic book. It wasn't like you could go online. You had to do a lot more work. Was there a --" You know, you mentioned that, like, those shows, those old sitcoms, which, again, like, you know, I wasn't, I fortunately wasn't around when those shows were airing in the 50s and 60s, but I feel like when I was home sick from school, I would watch them. And I kind of underestimated exactly how beautiful and fun they were. And I think that that's one of the sweetest things about this show, is it is really an homage to the way storytelling was done in a sitcom form that far back. Did you feel, like, how warm it was to do them? Yeah, and also, I mean, it was the family sitcom throughout the eras. I mean, even just, like, Three's a Company, which isn't really a family sitcom, but the amount of joy you get from watching people have a good time, it's such a fun, I mean, I guess it's, like, a form of empathy you have to, if you enjoy it, someone else's enjoyment. But it really felt good. And then the switch to other elements of this show felt so strange because it felt so good to be a fool and to try and make one another laugh. And also our director, Matt Shachman, just, like, oozes warmth and friendliness and kindness. And he had, like, three different viruses directing all these episodes. I'm convinced he had COVID in December. He got so sick. And he was really, like, our leader throughout all this and directed the whole thing with just so much warmth. It's really great. I also, I went out of my way not to even ask you anything that you could spoil because you have pointed out in the past that you're really bad at keeping secrets. So I hope I steered far enough away from it to not put you in an awkward situation. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I can dig my own hole for myself. But, yes, I appreciate the help. It's always so lovely to see you. Stay safe over there and congrats on the show. Thank you. New episodes of WandaVision are released on Fridays and available on Disney+.