Elizabeth Olsen talks politics, perception and the power of film
Hunger's heroine.
[“][M]y really early memories are of me putting on a show for a mirror,” says Elizabeth Olsen. “I’d always be mimicking a musical. Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, Grease – those were my favourites.” Coupled with musical theatre camps and years of ballet, performance was never far from Elizabeth Olsen’s childhood, and while many of us spent our early years crammed into a tutu trying to master the plié, there was one notable difference for Elizabeth – her rather famous surname.
In the 90s and early 00s the name Olsen became synonymous with Elizabeth’s elder sisters, the then uber-famous identical twins Mary-Kate and Ashley, and while Elizabeth – or Lizzie as her friends call her – had bit parts as herself in a number of their films, her acting career started much later, following a degree at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a term studying in Russia at the Moscow Art Theatre. Following six years of study, Elizabeth booked her first job and since then she hasn’t looked back. “I just started auditioning when I was in college and it all kind of fell into place,” she says, modestly. “There was never a moment where it was like, this is it.”
"It’s this insecurity that we all go through when we hit puberty but I think Instagram has stilted us – we haven’t graduated from that experience."
And while it may be tempting – and lazy – to question Elizabeth on the quirks of growing up with child star siblings, that is actually one of the least interesting things about her. That’s not to say she’s cagey though, in fact she’s anything but. She’s engaging, funny and without any of the airs and graces that you might expect of an A-lister – and more than happy to don a red wig and ludicrously long false nails for our Hitchcock-inspired cover shoot. “I’ve never got to do a shoot as creative as this,” she says. “It’s usually like, ‘Try and look pretty!’” During our interview she talks openly and at length about politics, society’s imperfections and, of course, acting – a career that she’s seven years into and still completely enamored by. And with her track record for balancing independent films (her star turn in debut Martha Marcy May Marlene was mesmerising) and blockbuster successes (Avengers: Age of Ultron made well over a billion dollars at the box office) it seems it won’t be long before all questions about Elizabeth’s siblings will be the furthest thing from our minds.
More recently she proved the diversity of her acting chops in Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut Wind River, playing a green FBI agent investigating the rape and murder of a Native American teenager on Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation, before doing a 180 and taking on the role of a neurotic Instagram influencer in Matt Spicer’s witty, satirical Ingrid Goes West. And next? Elizabeth says that she’s learning to be patient, waiting for roles that fulfil her creatively. “But right now,” she says, “I’m just in love with my job.”
In your most recent films – Ingrid Goes West and Wind River – you play two completely opposite characters, what drew you to them?
Elizabeth Olsen: I filmed Wind River first. I signed on to that about a year before filming it, but I was scared that it wasn’t going to happen because we lost an actor. But then Jeremy [Renner] came on board and it ended up being better that way. It was meant to happen, I think. Getting to be a part of that world, understanding it and telling that story was really beautiful. There was a lot of heart and soul in that film and to get to play a young woman who is driven and cares about morality and justice felt right. And then with Ingrid Goes West, it made me laugh; I thought it was really funny. How Matt [Spicer] wrote LA as a character was so specific and funny, without really trying to make people laugh. It was a really distinct portrayal of extreme characters that were hilarious, and I’ve been wanting to do something that was funny but also quite dark and disturbing for a long time because that’s the type of humour I’ve always liked. I just re-watched Death Becomes Her the other day, and Drop Dead Gorgeous was one of my favourite films growing up. I feel like twisted comedies don’t get made that often anymore – they feel rooted in a time – so it was great to be involved in this throwback genre that is one of my favourites.
A dark twisted comedy feels a bit like a metaphor for social media in a way…
There doesn’t have to be a movie about Instagram, but it is the perfect metaphor for all the characters and what they’re going through. It’s this insecurity that we all go through when we hit puberty but I think Instagram has stilted us – we haven’t graduated from that experience.
"What I find frustrating is not being able to control how you’re perceived, but you have to get over that because no one can control it."
Where do you stand personally on social media? You only recently joined Instagram.
I was wary of it, because my whole thought process was that I just wanted people to know my work and not know me. Obviously you don’t have to make your Instagram personal – no one has to do that –but it was about wanting to be more traditional. I enjoyed promoting my movies but now that that’s calmed down I’m a bit like “How the hell am I supposed to use this thing?” It’s a lot to keep up with and I already have a reputation among my friends of being like their 60-year-old fathers because of the way I text!
Social media can be invasive – are you concerned about the idea of public persona versus private one?
I think what I find frustrating is not being able to control how you’re perceived, but you have to get over that because no one can control it. One of my close friends said to me that if I was frustrated that people don’t get my sense of humour or whatever in an interview then creating a version of your personality on social media can be used to put yourself out there in the way you want. And that’s an interesting way to look at it. But then there’s the other side of you that’s like, “Well fuck it, why should I care!” I don’t need people to know anything about my private life, but also I don’t really know how to have a public persona and then be private in interviews because I like talking to people!
Wind River deals with rape, murder and race relations in the Native American community, and the race issue in particular is very pertinent right now. Do you think it’s important for films to be a part of those conversations?
I do, yes. I think that to create a story that someone can emotionally invest in is important. In culture and society for years we’ve become aware of things because of art. If you look at film history, films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a revelation, it was really important at that time. I also think it’s important to share stories on a platform that isn’t a news article because there’s so many of them and people don’t always engage like they should. Film is an important use of a medium of art.
"In culture and society for years we’ve become aware of things because of art."
Do you feel that as a woman now you constantly have to be the best representation of your gender because we’re not always supported by society and the people in power?
Yes, and I think it was something that I was hyper aware of as a little girl too. I just wanted to dress like a boy, and I did! Then when I was in college, in a movement class in Vermont, my teacher pulled me aside and was like, “You know, Lizzie, you can walk like a young woman; you’re not in New York City right now.” You forget that sometimes, especially in cities I find, you hold yourself with this toughness to try and desexualise yourself. But equally I don’t want to seem like a bumbling idiot and that’s because I’m from Los Angeles, I’m blonde and a young woman and I don’t want to be perceived as a stereotype.
Have you ever felt like you haven’t been taken as seriously in the film industry because you’re a woman?
I don’t know actually. When I did my first film, which I filmed simultaneously with Martha [Marcy May Marlene], it was a bad movie called Peace, Love and Misunderstanding and because it was my first film I went in being like “I don’t know anything, my opinion doesn’t matter because I’m inexperienced”. I thought that the costume designer, for example, was picking out the worst clothes for my character but I was just like, “Well, he’s experienced, he knows best” so I didn’t say anything. That’s when I realised that’s the wrong position to take. Just because you don’t have experience it doesn’t mean that you don’t have an opinion or shouldn’t be listened to. But I’ve never – luckily – felt like someone has negated my opinion because I’m a woman. I don’t think I come across as impressionable, though maybe that’s because I work so hard to not come across that way!
"I don’t want to seem like a bumbling idiot and that’s because I’m from Los Angeles, I’m blonde and a young woman."
Does politics and what’s happening in society now affect what film roles you look for?
Absolutely. I’m not always looking for jobs thinking what’s making a societal or political statement because the first thing I look for is a good story, but I do think that good stories have a resonance if the time is right. They have to be told at the right time because if it doesn’t connect with an audience then there’s no point in telling it at that moment, so it is something I think about, and care about. I didn’t do any out in the open campaigning in the presidential race though because I don’t think that’s the best use of being an actor, and also it didn’t work in the end. To some people you’re already seemingly inaccessible so seeing someone like Beyoncé, who seems really cool but is iconic, representing Hillary Clinton to me doesn’t make Hillary Clinton seem more personable. I’m not going to only choose jobs that have a political statement but I think it is important and is probably a better use of being an actor than trying to pressure people into having the same beliefs as you by a different means.
I bet there will be a lot of films made about what we’re living through now…
Well I just hope we come out the other end to tell the stories at this point!
Read the full interview with Elizabeth in issue 13 of Hunger, Mad World, out now
Ingrid Goes West is released tomorrow in the UK