WandaVision’s Elizabeth Olsen on feminism, famous sisters & finding her power

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Olsen, and this is my Glamour Unfolded. I think the standout moments from filming WandaVision were towards the beginning when we were doing all the interiors of the sitcom, and specifically, there's the third episode when I'm dressed in the 70s and I'm pregnant. My water's supposed to break, and then water inside the house was supposed to pour down on us, and we were told it was gonna be hot water, and we could only do it in one take, and it was freezing cold. Somehow it just cooled off at that time. I don't know what happened, but they felt so awful, but it was so funny. The Modern Family one was so fun for me because we were so tired at that point of shooting. I think it had been like our, we had finished three months of shooting, and we were just exhausted, and it was before our Christmas break, and I think I was delusional. I started taking a lot of medicinal mushrooms, not like drugs, like chaga and cordyceps and ashwagandha for my energy and for my immune system because we were so run down, and it was like I was on, I don't know, I've never tried Adderall, but I think it feels like that. I just was on a different planet. Oh yeah, I had major panic attacks for a long time in my life. It was totally debilitating, and I was living in New York on my own, and I was 22. I was the type of person, though, that didn't understand anxiety because it's just like write a list and check it off. I didn't realize it was something that was something you could not control, and the issue is the control part, and then I just learned a bunch of brain tricks from friends who actually went to a neuropsychiatrist, and instead of medicating, I decided to do it that way. What I learned with panic attacks is you have to put your attention off of whatever's making you spin onto something else, which is literally my acting school training, where you are supposed to be focused on the person you're with and not yourself. In the moment you start talking about it, you learn how many people go through this, and especially in their 20s and 30s. It's a really specific time that I've heard stories of lots of women having these panic attacks, and everyone just deals with it quietly, and I think now people aren't. The more representations we have of different types of women, the better. I'm not a very angry person. I've always really held my ground just for some reason. I don't know why. I think I was just like, I don't know how I was raised, but I always felt like I could say no in any work situation if someone was making me feel uncomfortable, and I just feel like that's what we need. I don't know what it is, but just the power of understanding that we don't have to follow suit if it doesn't feel right. I like being easy to work with. I like feeling like a game player and a team member when it comes to being on set, but I know when someone makes me feel uncomfortable, and I won't allow that to continue, and I was like that as a child, though. I was like that in school, but the word no specifically was something that I remember my sisters isolating, and it becoming really empowering, and I think for women, it's a really empowering word, and I think, you know, just say no to drugs, but truly, you can just say no on ever the hell you want. It's really a powerful thing, and it's empowering to do it. There was a producer that I just didn't feel comfortable around on set when I had certain scenes to do, and so I asked the director to not have him there, and they listened. Everyone has such crazy stories to tell, and I think it's every, obviously, it's every industry. It's largely in politics also, as we're seeing. I think at the end of the day, we just all have to be like normal people and be kind. Like, just be normal is one of my favorite things to say. When people start getting bizarre, just be normal. Don't be demanding, just be normal. Be respectful, have the conversation, and be normal. My first film that I did, I was nude, and it's Martha Marcy May Marlene, and I was also assaulted on camera. My agent, when we were making that contract, she said, if the director can't literally say what he wants to see on camera, then he's not comfortable filming you like that, and therefore, they don't deserve to have that part of you on camera. It's a weird job, this job, but you have to write these agreements about nudity, and it's easier when you're the lead, and it's not easy when you're the extra in Game of Thrones, and I think that is where there's real change being made. And then there's the power dynamic of male dominance on set. You truly have to take the moment and say, I want a sound editor who is a woman. How many are there? And sometimes, right now, they're all gone. And so then you go, okay, well, who's the best person for the job that maybe hasn't had an opportunity yet that is potentially a person of color? Like, you just have to just think outside the box as a producer, and I think it's really easy, and then it creates a really healthy work atmosphere. There is some sort of association of not earning something that I think bothered me at a very young age and had nothing to do with not being proud of what my sisters were doing. It had everything to do with my own insecurities. I did think, I'm just gonna be Elizabeth Chase, you know, when I become an actress kind of thing, and I can't believe I became an actress. I thought I was gonna go, like, be on Wall Street. I don't know what I wanted, but at the end of the day, I love acting, and as much as I go through this idea of, do I really wanna do this job the rest of my life, which I probably won't, but right now, it is really fulfilling, and there are times where I don't find it fulfilling, and I think the parts I don't find fulfilling is the pressure of platforms. My first time looking at Instagram, and I was like, this is kind of fun. Like, I think I could figure out how this is fun, and then you get more people, and then you're like, oh, now I'm not having as much fun, and now I'm second-guessing everything, and then it's like, why am I even trying to create a character version of myself and put it out in the world, and the whole thing just made me uncomfortable, and it's not even like I was really paying attention to comments or anything. I just felt weird how it organized my brain. Like, if something happened in the world, I would say, oh, do I have to post about this? I think it's very dangerous to think, oh, something just happened in the world. I am an entitled person whose voice must be heard on this issue, and I just think that is such a narcissistic viewpoint that we're all a part of. Like, it made us all live in this weird narcissistic cycle. I do think it's important for people who want to be voices and have platforms and who care deeply about issues to do that. I am terrified of that kind of pressure, and so that's kind of where I was like, oh, right, so I'm just gonna back up and do my things that I think are important for the things that I care about and try and be kind and good and learn and listen. During the pandemic, I was like, oh, well, you know what, this just is not for me, and I just got rid of it, and I won't go back. No regrets? No, I'm never going back to social media. Catherine Hondris was so delicious to work with, and she really was like, we are witches. How amazing is that? Like, we are these powerful women who men are terrified by, and they had to murder us because they were so scared of our power and our temptation and everything that is so mysterious about being a woman. To have this ownership of witches, again, is really fun.