Actors on Elizabeth Olsen (Sarah Paulson, Paul Bettany, Scarlett Johansson _ more

It's been a great year. I learned there's a whole other Olsen. I found that out this year. That's awesome. Where were they hiding her, huh? She's the best one. Come on. It's crazy. It was amazing. I can't believe she was the mistake. It was, uh, I didn't see it, but it's an amazing movie, amazing. Also putting this character with Wanda Maximoff, with Elizabeth Olsen, the dynamic between these two characters, what interested you most about kind of exploring the world of sorcery versus witchcraft? Um, all of that. I mean, I guess they're in the same, uh, kind of, um, discipline and she's just, she's also, I mean, just to talk about Lizzie for a second, what an amazingly, um, fine actress she is. She's just so consummate and to watch her is just mesmerizing. But also as a friend and human being on set, she's the first person not to take it or herself at all seriously and have fun. And that's infectious. So it was a joy really working with her. And it's a really, really, really, really cool pair up. It's a complicated one, but really good fun. Sarah and I aren't supposed to really get along that great, but we do. Yeah. We were like, do we have to do that scene now where we're supposed to be mad at each other? We just want to sing a song and dance around. Well, this was one of my questions actually is cause you shot all the farm stuff first and then you did the lake house. So you'd been in that character for what? A couple of weeks and then I met my sister. So was it easier for you in a way because she was so ingrained already in the character to be able to have that sort of like what is wrong with her? Like take for yourself or for Lucy. I think it was easier. It was, but it was also, there was something about Lizzie where we would, we would do the work and then the minute they yelled cut, you know, I've been saying this a lot to people. She was not one of those actresses who sort of like balled up in the corner, like thinking about everything horrible that ever happened to her so she could do this. You know, instead she'd be like, so, um, I want to talk about, and we would just, you know, it was just a completely, there was such levity on the set in between the stuff that was hard. But so, so I think it's even more telling about how spectacular we are in the movie because we really do like each other. Now that you are so excited to see you and Elizabeth work together for this film. Well, can you tell me your first meeting with her or how that you guys met? I've known Lizzie for a while, so we've been friends for a while. So we got along and that obviously can only help when you're playing friends in a movie. So our, we had real chemistry and we really got along. I'm sure there's a lot of laughs in the movie that are just us like being silly. So, which is good. I love working with Lizzie for a number of reasons. She's incredibly punctual and I am too. And it drives me nuts when people are late and she's never lazy. She's fastidious. She's, she's always comes to set with an idea and, and I do too. And we're always like texting about it too. And you would be surprised how many actors don't come to it. Your leading lady is Elizabeth Olsen, who really is everywhere these days. How was it working with her? A total pleasure. I mean, she's, she's a real pro. She seemed to have some sort of deep intuitive sense about who this girl was, you know, because Zibby is, the character she plays is named Zibby and she's, you know, precociously intelligent. She's very sophisticated. She kind of has an old soul quality to her. But at the same time, she reminds you every once in a while that she's young. In the same way that, that Lizzie does, you know, a lot of people who see the movie think that I must have written the role for her because she's, she so embodies the character. But I met her after I had already written it and we actually have the same agent, which really helped because I got some pages to my agent and she said, well, I have your Zibby. Her name's Elizabeth Olsen. This was before anyone had seen any of her movies. So I kind of knew who she was before a lot of people. I would never give an actress or an actor any advice, you know, because those guys like Lizzie Olsen is such an incredible actress and you could see, you know, well, first of all, brilliant casting, but also we could see she's just so, the way she is and acts, it's kind of beyond her years and she's going to have a huge career. It's obvious, but no, I would never. People figure when you have the talent, that's all that matters, isn't it? Of course, you know, you have to have somebody in the lead that, you know, is going to carry this off and how on earth, I mean, I think Elizabeth is an amazing actress. We've seen her do things, but how do you know that she's going to be able to carry this from beginning to end and do what you, you know, you want to see up there? Well, you know, she had the training having gone to Russia and studied theater. We knew we needed somebody who had theater training because, you know, the incredibly long takes and the need to be able to concentrate and have the stamina and then just her quality, her depths, her fragility, her, the emotion that she could bring. And we saw that in her audition. Yeah. And what did you make her do in the audition to see that? We had her run around the city. Basically, you know, we wrote, we actually wrote just, we wrote some sides that had nothing to do with the actual script. And we were just looking for, we were looking just for that quality, for that, that ability to, to convey her, her fear and her confusion. And, and, and, and also that somebody that you felt that you wanted to care about. So that's what we were looking for. Yeah. Really amazing job that she did there. Now, I can't even imagine how many false starts. Not Elizabeth Olsen, which must've been for, especially in the, in the early movies that were not of other women around when you were, you know, here you were, did, did that help bond you when you were surrounded with all this testosterone? Yeah, it was so great when Lizzie came on. Cause you know, we had Colby, uh, was, you know, it was basically the two of us, um, kind of holding up, holding down the fort. Yeah. Um, and, uh, and then when Lizzie came on, uh, it's semi balanced out. I mean, there's, it's very, it was very, you know, heavy on the testosterone, um, for a very long time. And now has like calibrated, um, finally caught up. But, uh, yeah, I mean, we all, we were, Lizzie's fantastic. She's so funny. Um, and so she has like such a quirky sense of humor. Um, she's just a total professional. She's just, she's fit in like perfectly and could just hang and talk and bring it to work. And, you know, she's just, and what she was doing was so hard. Um, you know, she had such a, even her, the physicality of what she was doing was so hard that I would, I'd have work with her and I was amazed at what she was creating out of nothing. Um, you know, that she created this whole, you know, again, this physicality and, and her characters has such, you know, uh, she's, it has such a sensuality to her and she's, and she has such a passion and she's, she brought like a whole thing that was just, I, I was amazed by it and made for like, put me to shame. I was like, wow, this is like an amazing thing. You've created this like mystical, beautiful thing, um, that had such strong, like feminine energy. And it was, it was much needed. My experience working with Elizabeth Olsen was probably one of the best I've ever had. I mean, she, she had very little experience, but was an incredible pro. And, um, I've said this a lot to people who ask, but you know, when I was 21, if I had to take on a role of this magnitude and this, this depth, I probably would have been curled up in a ball at like listening to sad music and thinking about my dead dog to like get me into some emotional place. And she just was able to do it without, without doing all that extra stuff. She was very light of spirit and we just joked around all the time. We sang a lot of songs like goobers on the set in between takes. And, you know, she's really a fun, loving, free spirit who happens to be a really, really remarkable actor. Probably memorable would be Elizabeth Olsen and I singing, you don't own me, um, from the first wives club on the dock down by the water where she spent a lot of time getting in that water. And we have a big scene on the boat and, um, we just spent a lot of time shaking our fingers in the air and singing, you don't own me. Like we were Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn. And it was much to the cruise dismay. It was not a pretty sight, but we, we kept doing it anyway. Every day, man. I mean, she's, um, such a trooper. She, she's been, she was on the picture for a good nine months prior to me getting involved in it. And so she did a lot of gun training and always wonderful things. So I was really impressed with, uh, how much the dedication and time spent to, to make the, uh, the character really, really believable. And, um, and she, she, she, she crossed LRTs, got all her eyes. She said she was on point and she's just a loving human to, to collaborate with, um, and doing two movies, I think before. Um, so yeah, it's every day was a really wonderful experience and it was a very, very intimate way to, to work instead of like on the Avengers movies. It was something that we had to just work together intimately in the snow. We're kind of stuck out there in the top of mountain for a month or two on end, you know? So, um, yeah, I really, really enjoyed, really enjoyed working with her. And then we'd go have a nice glass of wine and nice meal at the end of the day. So it was, uh, and hit repeat, keep doing it. It's fantastic, you know?