WandaVision Star Recalls Learning Marvel Acting From Elizabeth Olsen

WandaVision's Kathryn Hahn shares a funny story of how Elizabeth Olsen helped teach her the Marvel way of acting. When it debuted in 2021, having the distinction of being the first-ever Disney+ series for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision quickly became a certified hit. It combined the world-building that MCU fans enjoyed with a general mystery and serialization which appealed to general television audiences that might not have otherwise invested in a weekly superhero show.

This was, of course, aided by the leading performance of Olsen as Wanda Maximoff. Struggling to move past the death of Vision (Paul Bettany) in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda uses her powers to create the perfect sitcom world where nothing ever really goes wrong and anything that might can easily be fixed in 30 minutes. In order to build that world, however, Wanda needed a supporting cast of neighbors and spouses, and co-workers. The most important of those, of course, turned out to be Agnes. Played to perfection by Kathryn Hahn, the character who was later revealed to be Agatha Harkness pretty much ran away with WandaVision.

But as Hahn recalled while introducing Olsen at Variety's Power of Women event, working in the world of the MCU wasn't always the easiest experience. Known for her work in comedies and light dramas, Hahn explained that she had a bunch of questions about Marvel and found difficulty with the numerous greenscreens of Marvel. Still, she says that Olsen was a very patient teacher:

“She was my intro into this Marvel family, and she very generously walked me through blasts and wires and stunts and finding truth on an X on a green screen — I was used to talking to other people. She was so patient with all of my questions. Who is Ultron? What is that glove with all the gems on it?

“When it was just the two of us working on the finale, our base camp had two cars,” she added. “It was my dirty minivan and her dirty Prius, and she was like, ‘This is not “The Avengers,”‘ which I think really delighted her. She was very patient as it took me like a solid 40 minutes to ’10-1’ … which in the movie business, is to urinate. I had a lot of costume on, and a very small bladder.”

WandaVision Was Perfect To Start The Disney+ Era Of The MCU

Kathryn Hahn and Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision 2

There are a lot of factors that combine to make WandaVision a big success. The premise played a significant role, using the medium of television — and specifically sitcoms — as a guide by which to examine Wanda's grief. It was legitimately different for Marvel, and attractive to viewers that might not have an awareness of each individual film in the MCU. It was also, more than a lot of other Disney+ shows that have come out since, a showcase for talented actors like Olsen, Bettany, and Hahn and the chemistry that Hahn alludes to in her comments.

WandaVision, though it provided plenty of teases that didn't pan out, and a few that did, with Agatha getting her own spinoff, rarely slowed down or stopped for the sake of building a secondary plot that would pay off in another project. The finale does this, sacrificing Wanda's character growth for the sake of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and suffers as a result. But for the most part, the show is remembered for being as inviting as it was to Hahn as it was for everyone. Give or take a few greenscreen jitters.

Source: Variety