There has been quite a bit of internet chatter and debate about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, especially about how it treated fan-favorite character Wanda Maximoff. But, I am not here to discuss that. I’m here to discuss the actress behind everyone’s favorite witch.
There may be debate over the character, but there is one thing that the internet seems to be in agreement over: Elizabeth Olsen’s press tour for the blockbuster has been epic.
If you have been on the internet in the past month for over 10 minutes, then I am sure you have stumbled upon one of Olsen’s viral interviews—and there have been a lot. There was one that dominated the Twitter feed for an entire weekend. This past weekend, to be precise.
I am talking about Olsen’s epic lie detector interview with Vanity Fair.
There were several viral moments from this gem of an interview, but first I want to talk about that clip of Olsen earnestly apologizing to Danielle Haim. For context, Haim and Olsen went to high school together and Olsen has previously said in interviews that Haim intimidated her. So, of course, Vanity Fair had more questions for Olsen about her, including how Olsen thought Haim did in Licorice Pizza.
Olsen soon became flustered by the fact that the lie detector machine thought she was lying about enjoying Haim’s performance in Licorice Pizza. In Olsen’s defense, Danielle Haim’s sister Alana Haim is the lead of the movie, not Danielle. Danielle Haim has maybe one or two lines in the whole thing. In other words, she was set up to fail.
For me though, the best part of this whole exchange was when Olsen is asked if she’s a better actress than Danielle Haim and she just laughs for several seconds and says “yeah.” Icon status.
Several moments of this nearly 17-minute interview are laugh out loud funny, but I could not stop cracking up when Olsen explained to everyone what an “L.A. like” is. Olsen, who grew up with her famous siblings in the San Fernando Valley, dipped into a little Valley Girl-speak when answering a question about why she doesn’t hang out with Chris Evans anymore. (Don’t worry, they are still friends. It’s just because they aren’t filming Avengers anymore). As someone who lives in L.A., I love it when the local mannerisms have to be explained.
While I loved these bits from the interview, the moment that truly cemented this lie detector test in Olsen interview history for me was when she discussed being an “aspiring stoner,” then stared right at the camera and said “it’s legal in California.” Bow down to the interview queen.
And this wasn’t even Olsen’s first viral video of the press tour. She’s been on fire for weeks. Way before Olsen was even strapped to the lie detector, she had another viral moment circulate the web: her interview with Entertainment Tonight at the Multiverse of Madness premiere.
During a brief red carpet stop, an interviewer reads a slew of fan tweets to Olsen—who is smart and not on social media—about her character Wanda. Olsen plays along and laughs with each new tweet read to her; however, when one of the tweets refers to her character as “mother,” she has a few questions.
“I really love being called someone’s mom. That’s a thing I didn’t know about, but I am called it a lot,” Olsen wholesomely says to the interviewer. “I don’t know at what point this started happening. I’d love for someone to teach me the evolution of that phrase.” Same Elizabeth, same.
(Elizabeth if you are reading this, it is basically a term the youths use when referring to a person they find attractive.)
But it’s really the innocent questioning and wanting a full lesson on the term’s use and evolution that is why we all love Elizabeth Olsen. She says what we are thinking and says it with the most cool confidence. It’s endearing as hell.
Olsen is no stranger to the press junket. I mean, the Multiverse of Madness is her sixth major Marvel release, so she’s a pro at this point. (Yes, she was in a post-credits scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier, but we aren’t counting that right now, so calm down.) But, this current press tour is not the first time she has dominated the press cycle with her delightful moments.
One particular highlight brings us all the way back to 2015, to a press conference for Avengers: Age of Ultron in London.
The entire cast was asked by an audience member, “What do you get most excited about before filming the movies?” Olsen is the first up to answer and says wholeheartedly, “I get most excited by cooking and eating.”
The entire room fills up with laughter. However, it isn’t until a few people down the line that Olsen realizes she interpreted the question wrong and therefore had a wildly different answer than the rest of the Avengers. Her answer and subsequent realization is the most smile-inducing thing you will ever see in your life.
Another iconic moment that stands out in her endearing archive is the “Hot Ones” interview from when she was promoting WandaVision. As many fans of the interview series know, at the end of each episode while the guest is in pain after eating several extremely spicy chicken wings, host Sean Evans rolls out the red carpet for them to promote whatever they have going on.
However, instead of promoting a project during this time Olsen, as we’ve now learned is her way, looked at all the different cameras on set and explained that what was going on in her life was that she was in “New York City and just enjoying being here and not in Los Angeles, where I usually live.” It doesn’t get much more charming than that.
And it’s not just on Marvel press tours where Olsen unleashes her charm.
Remember when Aubrey Plaza showed up to the Ingrid Goes West premiere in the same outfit as Olsen and hilarity ensued on the red carpet?
The wardrobe twinning was definitely a pre-planned stunt by the duo since the movie is about Plaza’s character being obsessed with Olsen’s character, but that didn’t make Olsen’s reaction to the antics any less adorable. Also, when Olsen put her scarf on Plaza during an interview at Sundance because she saw her getting cold… swoon.
All of this is to say that this is your sign to go watch all of Elizabeth Olsen’s interviews as each and every one contains a new level of charm we only wish to aspire to. Now, we all must wait with bated breath for her next press tour and I, for one, can’t wait to see the new ways in which she charms us all.
