Marvel Fans Will Cry Real Tears After Elizabeth Olsen Credits This $4 Million Thriller Film For Changing Her Life Instead of Her Scarlet Witch Role
- Elizabeth Olsen credits a 2011 thriller film for changing her life and marking her breakout role, rather than her Marvel character.
- The film helped her transition from theater and education-focused acting to becoming a Hollywood A-lister.
- Despite her success in Marvel, Olsen considered WandaVision a risky career move due to its own challenges.
Close to a decade ago, during the Captain America: The Winter Soldier mid-credits, Elizabeth Olsen made her first appearance as Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since, the character has risen to the top of fictional power charts, especially after an antagonistic role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, leading the actress to soar in popularity within the fandom.
Keeping aside the Marvel fan craze, Olsen’s portrayal of Wanda was not her career breakthrough. Beginning her acting journey at the age of four, the actress has had the privilege of lending her skills to a variety of productions, several of which lay outside the comic-book movie genre. As such, a 2011 flick beyond Marvel bears the honor of being her breakout and life-altering role.
Elizabeth Olsen traces her life-changing experience to a thriller role
A long way from her early-age acting pursuits, Elizabeth Olsen made her full-fledged big-screen debut in 2011’s Martha Marcy May Marlene. Interestingly, it is this very thriller mystery that the 35-year-old believes changed her life for good. In talks with Harper’s Bazaar, she admitted that the Sean Durkin directorial helped her transition from a novice acting career that focused on education and theater training to one that turned her into a Hollywood A-lister.
The role that changed my life was Martha Marcy May Marlene, but I wasn’t really aware of the opportunity it had opened up for me at the time, because all my focus had been on theatre.
Elaborating further, the Avengers: Endgame actress explained how she was more towards a“working actor” approach, with her biggest pursuits coming from “off-Broadway shows.”
I just wanted keep having jobs and continuing to act professionally; I didn’t really have in my mind what the best version could look like. The best version, to me, back then, was just being a working actor. So the film changed my life, but I didn’t know how to use it in the best way possible.
However, when cast into the $4.7 million grossing film, she portrayed the role of Martha in a story following that young woman’s escape ordeal from a cult. In return, swooning critical acclaim decorated her and marked her breakthrough role, soon after which Marvel Studios came calling.
Actress credits Marvel’s WandaVision for “career curveball”
In the same round of talks, Elizabeth Olsen also spoke of her role as Wanda Maximoff and eventually, the Scarlet Witch. The very project that enabled her to transition into the latter, 2021’s WandaVision, also bears the distinction of being the actress’ riskiest.
The 35-year-old opened up that her show, being the very first MCU TV project, had her fear for its success, as there was no idea how audiences would react to characters they had only seen in movies.
My career curveball was Wandavision. I was really scared about doing a Marvel project for TV, because these are otherworldly, larger-than-life characters that are seen in films, and I didn’t know if it would still work on a television at home.
Fortunately, things worked out and WandaVision went on to become a celebrated Marvel project. As for Olsen, she is currently looking ahead to her Netflix drama, His Three Daughters. Directed by Azazel Jacobs, the story will have the actress star alongside Carrie Coon and Natasha Lyonne as three sisters bound by complex and tense situations during their father’s final days.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is available to stream on Prime Video, whereas WandaVision is streaming on Disney+. His Three Daughters drops in theaters on September 6, 2024.
