There is a universe in which Elizabeth Olsen starred in Yorgos Lanthimos's Cannes Jury Prize-winning "The Lobster," but alas, the "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" star was already committed to Marvel.
Olsen, who has played Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, in MCU installments since 2014, looks back at alternate realities of her career, including the Oscar-nominated film Lanthimos.“I started to get frustrated,” Olsen told The New York Times about being locked into a Marvel contract. “I had this job security but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more of a part of me. And the further away I got from that, the less I was considered for it.
How Elizabeth Olsen discovered her powers
Olsen previously called losing "The Lobster" a "heartbreak,"
explaining at the 2015 American Film Festival (via Variety) that she was "on a
contract [for Marvel] I couldn't get out of. So that didn't work."
“She took me away from the physical ability to do certain jobs that I thought were more aligned with the things that she enjoyed as an audience member,” Olsen told NYT about the MCU. "And this is me being the most honest."
However, Olsen decided to sign on to the Disney+ series "WandaVision" after fulfilling his three-movie deal with Marvel at the end of "Avengers: Infinity War.
"The power to choose to continue was important to me," Olsen
explained, saying the series had a new kind of "freedom" within the MCU.
"We thought what we were doing was very strange and we didn't know
if we had an audience for it, so there was freedom," Olsen added. “There was
no pressure, no fear. It was a really healthy experience.”
And after "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," which
again leaves Wanda's fate wide open, Olsen is considering a standalone
movie.
"I think she would," she said. “But it really has to be a
good story. I think these movies are better when it's not about creating
content, but about having a very strong point of view, not because you need to
have a three-movie plan."
Olsen previously defended Marvel's brand of storytelling in The
Independent.
"I'm not saying we're doing independent art films, but I think
that detracts from our team, which annoys me," Ella Olsen said. “From an
actor's point of view, whatever it is, I get it; I totally get that there's a
different kind of acting going on. But I do think that throwing Marvel under
the bus takes away the hundreds of very talented people on the team. That's
where I get a little aggressive with it."
