Elizabeth Olsen Details Being “Frustrated” With Marvel Contracts Preventing Other Acting Opportunities

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theatres, and it’s had a successful first week at the box office. The movie currently has a 75% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 87% audience score. ComicBook.com‘s Jenna Anderson gave the movie a 4 out of 5 and called it “an inventive, outrageous turning point for the MCU.” The sequel sees the return of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, and more. However, it’s not always easy being a Marvel star. Olsen recently admitted to The New York Times that MCU contracts can sometimes take away from other acting gigs. Olsen was up for a role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster back in 2015 and says losing the role was a “heartbreak.” She added, “I was in a contract [for Marvel] I could not get out of. So that didn’t work out.”

“I started to feel frustrated,” Olsen explained about losing roles because of the MCU. “I had this job security but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more part of my being. And the further I got away from that, the less I became considered for it.”

Olsen has been a major part of the MCU for over seven years now, but the growth of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch didn’t really take off until WandaVision was released last year. ComicBook.com recently spoke with Olsen and asked what it has been like to evolve her character over so much time through so many genres. 

“I mean, it’s been a ride that I didn’t expect,” Olsen shared. “I got comfortable just taking up a lane and showing just a couple colors of her and it just helping the story and this film as a whole. And then WandaVision, I got to be all the colors of all the rainbows. That was an amazing opportunity, but also an amazing opportunity to remember playfulness and being able to fail and there’s such a freedom that we had while filming that has informed me now in how I approach her. And so to be with [Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness], I was at first, when I heard, I was like, ‘Really, we do WandaVision and then we do that?’” 

Olsen continued, “But, that said, I think it was an incredible opportunity to have an audience for seven hours on her side and then throw her into a journey where you could potentially question her, where she’s coming from. And I really had a great time trying to create an evolution of her and her power and her acceptance and confidence of who she was meant to be, and that informing her decision making. And then I always, with Sam [Raimi], we were always trying to go back to find her humanity, even through it. And so it was a fun line to split between.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theatres.