After sealing the deal with Marvel Studios and now doing press for Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, Elizabeth Olsen has been liberated to discuss her role in Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron as Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch. Nerdy Rotten Scoundrel reminded the actress that Samuel L. Jackson had "confirmed" her involvement before she could and that he was excited to work with her. "I don't know if we'll work together," responded Olsen. "But we'll be doing Avengers together. I don't know if we'll be doing any scenes together though," she added.
When asked how excited she was to be joining the sequel to last year's highest-grossing film, The Avengers, Elizabeth explained, "Yes, I've become like such a nerd about it. I'm having so much fun right now. It's really really fun to read those comics and its really exciting. The majority of this stuff isn't relevant to what we're gonna be doing. But I'm loving it and it's a lot of fun."
As for the Scarlet Witch's costume, Olsen says she doesn't know much about it, "but it's not probably what people would expect." She adds, "I've been doing homework and reading comic books as my homework right now." In a separate interview with blogger Carla Hay, Elizabeth Olsen was asked why she's excited for the project. The actress admitted: "I'm feeling really excited about Scarlet Witch because she's really complicated. It's really fun stuff. I'm kind of tired of playing myself right now, like, versions of myself. Doing something like [Scarlet Witch] sounds a lot cooler."
UPDATE: Speaking more about her costume in the Age of Ultron, Olsen told Ain't it Cool News that "I know what the costume is going to be more or less like. I'm just excited that she's never been portrayed in film or on television before."
According to Screenrant, Elizabeth Olsen was pressed even further about Scarlet Witch during the Oldboy press conference, as she was asked how she'll ground the Marvel heroine as opposed to the real-world characters she has played. "The same way, I think! I actually feel really good that I just did a play because it requires so much imagination, you know? To acknowledge the fact that all these people are here, but you’re making up this room that your in that you’re not in, or whatever… So far I’m just doing a lot of reading right now on Scarlet Witch and it’s really exciting. But the imagination, like to a child, and like running around in a play yard is what it feels like right now. And that sounds like so much fun, but you still want to approach it with the same kind of like ‘No, this is where she’s from,’ and it’s real. And that’s what’s fun about it. Let them put on the costume or do the special whatever-they-need-to-do to make it look special, but I’ll just do my part – it just has more extreme things to it. [Laughs] I’m like really excited about Scarlet Witch."
Finally, when asked to elaborate on her comments above, Elizabeth Olsen went on to reveal some things she's found out about Wanda Maximoff since reading Marvel comics. "The most recent thing I learned – I don’t even know if it has anything [to do with the film], it’s just fun to read these comics – it’s just so fun! Like, she’s a ‘nexus,’ like she’s the only human being from this universe who can communicate with paranormal things and the past and the future and other universes; like to me that’s pretty incredible! [Laughs] Like just thinking about that is amazing! To touch things and know where they’ve been, that’s crazy!" Safe to say Olsen is very excited!
(Image credit: November 10, 2013 - Source: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images North America) | DCMarvelFreshman
Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson and James Spader, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen in negotiations to join,
The Avengers: Age of Ultron is directed by Joss Whedon from his screenplay, and is slated to begin production in March 2014 and release on May 1, 2015.