Before Elizabeth Olsen became the apple of Marvel Studios’ eye, she announced herself to the industry with a powerhouse performance in Sean Durkin’s critically acclaimed indie, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011).
In 2014, Olsen was then recruited by two major franchises, the MonsterVerse via Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and the Marvel Cinematic Universe via the Russo brothers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The latter franchise, in particular, has since consumed most of her time and energy, racking up six movies and three Disney+ series as Wanda/Scarlet Witch, including the Emmy-winning WandaVision (2021) and the animated What If…? and 2025’s Marvel Zombies. However, she still managed to squeeze in some lauded independents, such as Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River (2017) and Ingrid Goes West (2017).
Now that Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) has seemingly put live-action Wanda on ice for the time being, Olsen has returned to independent film, beginning with 2023’s His Three Daughters and Fleur Fortuné’s well-received sci-fi drama, The Assessment, which is currently in theaters. These latest commitments represent a newfound perspective for Olsen.
“I didn’t realize this until about six years ago, but because Marvel and its influence takes up so much physical time and space in the world, it’s really important for me to make choices outside of Marvel that reflect my own taste,” Olsen tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Your taste does create the artist that you are, and that wasn’t something I was thinking about when I first started working. So the opportunity to return to films like [The Assessment] is a reflection of the people I want to work with and my own personal taste.”
The Assessment is set in a futuristic world where dwindling resources have turned childbirth and childrearing into a privilege for a select few. Consequently, Olsen’s Mia and Himesh Patel’s Aaryan undergo a 7-day assessment by Alicia Vikander’s gatekeeper character, Virginia, to determine whether the husband and wife are suited for parenthood. As a result, Virginia goes full method and commits to the role of a child-like character, pushing Mia and Aaryan’s buttons in every way imaginable.
“I was intrigued by it in the same way I was intrigued by reading The Lobster,” Olsen says, referencing the Yorgos Lanthimos movie she was tied to before Avengers: Age of Ultron had other plans. “It can be unsettling, but I found The Assessment to be enough fun and games and absurd humor that I just wanted to know where it was going to go.”
As for the future of her fan-favorite Marvel character, Olsen confirms that she’s not going to be a part of the Russo brothers’ two upcoming Avengers movies, Doomsday and Secret Wars. The back-to-back productions are gearing up to shoot in London soon, and Olsen just returned to the U.S. after wrapping Sam Esmail’s Panic Carefully in London. “I’m moving on to filming a pilot for FX [called Seven Sisters],” Olsen adds.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Olsen also discusses why she was unfazed by Vikander’s child-like performance, before explaining why now is the right time to reunite with Martha director, Durkin, on FX’s Seven Sisters pilot.
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I talked with Alicia Vikander about The Assessment having a little Ex Machina in it, but then I realized there’s also some Martha Marcy May Marlene. Both stories center on a wildcard character who is taken in by a couple that’s trying to have a baby, and things quickly go awry. Did you ever compare the Mia character to Sarah Paulson’s character in Martha?
(Laughs.) No, never! I didn’t draw that comparison at all. I haven’t seen that movie in such a long time, so you saying that is very funny to me. This is the first time I’ve reflected on that.
When I was 10 or 11, I basically asked my mom why there’s a test to acquire a driver’s license, but not one to become a parent.
What an astute young boy.
Well, it was actually a sad story because it was prompted by a classmate who everybody knew had a rough homelife. So this movie answers my grade-school self’s question by showing how disturbing that process would likely be. Were you rather unsettled by the Assessment script during your first read?
I was intrigued by it in the same way I was intrigued by reading The Lobster. [Writer’s Note: Olsen was originally tied to the Yorgos Lanthimos film until Avengers: Age of Ultron upended those plans.] It can be unsettling, but I found The Assessment to be enough fun and games and absurd humor that I just wanted to know where it was going to go. I love films that have their own rules that the characters have to play by, so I was excited by it.
In general, the beautiful thing about sci-fi is that it’s separated from our world just enough. It allows us to not have to obsessively compare ourselves: “Oh, that’s not what our president looks like,” or, “That isn’t what the FBI actually does.” We get to just theorize and reflect upon really large questions in our existence. And The Assessment is such a brilliant way to inspire those kinds of thoughts and questions, but within this very intimate setting that’s almost like a chamber piece. So that was what I loved about it instead of feeling disturbed by it.
Alicia Vikander’s Virginia and Elizabeth Olsen’s Mia in The Assessment
Magnus Jønck. © 2024 Number 9 Films Assessment Limited, TA Co-Production GmbH, ShivHans Productions, LLC, TA2022 Investors, LLC, Tiki Tāne Pictures, LLC. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
When Mia (Olsen) gives Virginia’s (Vikander) child character a bath, it somehow felt like a genuine mother-daughter dynamic. I briefly overlooked that it was all part of Virginia’s many twisted tests to see if Mia and Aaryan (Patel) would make for suitable parents. I’m sure you trusted your director and castmates at the time, but did you still question whether this would all land?
I think you always question if anything will land. You have the film that’s a script, you have a film that you shoot, and then you have the film that’s in the edit. And then there’s this other element that you cannot control, which is what the world is going to be like when a film is released and the relationship audiences have with it. They create this whole other world of the film that’s meant to be shared, so you can’t worry about it. I just focus on making sure that the choices are clear, even if you want things to have ambiguity, and that it feels justified and understood.
The bathtub scene was on the page, and so was this feeling of betrayal that Mia eventually has towards Virginia. But as we were shooting, Alicia and I discovered this bond that these women have, and that wasn’t on the page. That wasn’t in the language that we had to say. There’s a moment where there is an alliance, and like you said, you get lost in it. You go into their world of playing this game, and then you start to believe those dynamics.
That kind of intimacy and the experience that these women have with one another and how it affects their ultimate choices by the end of the film, it’s almost like they make the decision to make the same choice. They ended up giving each other something that they never thought they needed to hear or to experience. It was this transference of feeling seen by one another, even if it’s with such an extreme conflict.
Virginia is essentially a method actor, and Mia and Aaryan need a second to process it at first. Is that how things usually go with method actors? Is there usually a similar moment where you catch on to what they’re doing?
(Laughs.) I haven’t worked with many method actors. There’s something I enjoy when people morph, and this is not how anyone on The Assessment worked. But there’s an in-between space, and there’s something fun about not knowing if this is how someone actually behaves as a person or if this is them playing their character. So I actually enjoy that, and it gives me the freedom to be even more playful. In a way, you don’t have to be polite in that situation. But I haven’t had an experience with a full method actor where I had to call them their character’s name or anything like that.
Himesh Patel’s Aaryan and Elizabeth Olsen’s Mia in The Assessment
Magnus Jønck. © 2024 Number 9 Films Assessment Limited, TA Co-Production GmbH, ShivHans Productions, LLC, TA2022 Investors, LLC, Tiki Tāne Pictures, LLC. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Alicia told me that there was some occasional breaking and giggling when she was playing Virginia’s child-like character. How long did it take you to get caught up in the fantasy of it all?
It wasn’t completely unnatural for me to believe that she was playing a child. I went to theater school where you play children and 80-year-olds or whatever. So it was almost like retreating back to theater school or even just imaginary play as a kid. So the imaginary play of this film didn’t feel unnatural, and I just loved embracing the way we play as children. It forces Mia and Aaryan — who are more serious about their work, especially Aaryan — to have to interact in the world in that way. And it’s so awkward and uncomfortable until they start to embrace it and confuse their own reality.
You started out as an indie, arthouse kid before joining the machinery of big franchises. Is it always nice to return to these more contained productions after being on sets the size of small countries?
It is. You end up having fewer people on the crew, and because The Assessment also had a smaller cast, there’s such a community that you build to intimately create these [smaller-scale films]. You’re also on set more. You’re physically having to do more pages every day, and the rhythm of how you shoot, no time is wasted. I can’t stand wasted time on set. I have a lot of patience, generally speaking, but when there is time where nothing is happening, I really don’t understand it. It’s not like that happens a lot, but it does happen sometimes when you have the funds to tinker slowly. So I love the energy of having to get through so much in a day.
I didn’t realize this until about six years ago, but because Marvel and its influence takes up so much physical time and space in the world, it’s really important for me to make choices outside of Marvel that reflect my own taste. Your taste does create the artist that you are, and that wasn’t something I was thinking about when I first started working. I was just grateful to be a working actor. I wanted to stretch myself into different roles, and I wasn’t really thinking about my taste. So the opportunity to return to films like this is a reflection of the people I want to work with and my own personal taste in ways, even if I’m not the filmmaker.
Elizabeth Olsen as Mia in The Assessment
Magnus Jønck. © 2024 Number 9 Films Assessment Limited, TA Co-Production GmbH, ShivHans Productions, LLC, TA2022 Investors, LLC, Tiki Tāne Pictures, LLC. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
I believe you’re working on Sam Esmail’s Panic Carefully in London, currently. Do you know yet if Joe and Anthony Russo are going to be extending your stay? (The Russos are about to shoot the two upcoming Avengers movies in London.)
No, I’m back [in the States]. I just finished [Panic Carefully]. I’m moving on to filming a pilot for FX [called Seven Sisters].
Yes, I was happy to see that you’re finally reuniting with your Martha director, Sean Durkin. Are you surprised it took 14 or 15 years?
No, since we made Martha, I don’t think he’s made anything that was right for me. The Nest is one of my favorite films, but I don’t really see how I would’ve fit into anything like that. These moments show themselves in ways that you don’t expect, and I certainly didn’t expect that the next time we’d work with each other would be for television. So I’m very excited, and Will Arbery [who wrote the pilot] is one of the most interesting writers today. I’ve also never made a pilot before, so I’m excited to see what that’s like. I hope we actually get to share it one day. [Writer’s Note: WandaVision, like Olsen’s two other series, was a straight-to-series order before Marvel Studios pivoted to a more traditional TV-making model in 2023.]
Elizabeth Olsen and Sarah Paulson in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
It’s quite impressive how successful the Martha cast has become. It was your first movie, as well as Chris Abbott and Julia Garner’s first movie. Brady Corbet also played a supporting role. (And that’s not even mentioning Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy and John Hawkes.)
Yeah, Julia, especially, was such a little girl. I think she was 15 years old or something. It was also Chris’ first film, but before we made that movie, I had admired him as a theater actor for years. And then there’s also Brady. So it’s really amazing, and it really is such a special film. I reflect on the people who came together for it, quite often, actually.
Lasty, I never expected this, but it makes sense since your movie made the point that there are countless unsolved cases. Were you aware that a Wind River sequel has already been shot?
(Laughs.) No, I’ve never heard of this. I had no idea. Is [Wind River filmmaker] Taylor [Sheridan] involved?
I don’t think so. It was directed by Kari Skogland (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and it has some of the same producers (Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Matthew George). I believe it centers on Gil Birmingham’s character’s son (Martin Sensmeier).
I had absolutely no idea. Thank you for telling me because now I know. I had no clue.
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The Assessment is now playing in movie theaters.
