Elizabeth Olsen on Netflix drama His Three Daughters and working with an Irish director
Elizabeth Olsen is one of the stars of His Three Daughters, a film on Netflix. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tory Burch
She's the US actress whose Marvel star status has led to numerous other roles — including a forthcoming rom-com with an Irish filmmaker.
But when she’s not using her superpowers as Wanda Maximoff, Elizabeth Olsen has always had a knack for picking strong dramatic roles.
sees her joining forces with Natasha Lyonne and Carrie Coon in a powerful and moving drama that’s set to feature in critics’ best-of 2024 lists.
By turns funny and bittersweet, it centres on three very different sisters who return to the family home to care for their father, who is approaching the end of his life.
For Olsen, who had previously worked with writer-director Azazel Jacobs ( ) on the series , signing up was a no-brainer — not least because of Jacobs’ planned unconventional approach to the project. The movie was shot in sequence which is unusual, shot on film, and written with its three female leads in mind.
“That already felt like an absurd dream coming true, because nothing works like that,” says Olsen. “I already felt like we were doing something that was just not a part of the system, that it was all going to reveal itself as each character is introduced.”
focuses on three siblings who gather at the family home of their father, who is terminally ill. Though the women have vowed to support each other and put their father’s care first, there are family differences and issues that are revealed through the course of the film.
In many ways, Olsen’s free-spirited Christina plays referee between the bossy and talkative Katie (Coon) and the sports-betting Rachel (a very funny Lyonne), who is fond of her weed. “I think being a caretaker is something that I've had to do in different stages in my life in different ways, not connected to parents passing but in other ways, and Aza knows that about me,” observes Olsen. “I think that's why he thought of me for Christina, because he knows me personally. That was something maybe personal and specific on the page.”
The scenes for the movie were also shot in the order we see them in the film. It’s unusual in a process where scenes are filmed to accommodate schedules and availability — and the Californian found it a revelation. “I forgot how helpful it could be. It's so simple and so complicated to shoot that way because of schedules and locations and other actors that come in and out.
“Before I start any job, I create as much of an understanding of an arc that I think would be helpful pillars so that if we do shoot out of order, I've already made certain choices and pivots that I know at least what pillars I'm jumping between.
“I didn't need it, because the prior days and the days leading up to were informing the present and the actual experiences that we got to share together.”
Olsen was familiar with showbusiness from an early age, as her siblings the Olsen twins — Mary-Kate and Ashley — became TV stars while they were infants. They went on to become preteen icons with a huge fanbase, becoming among the wealthiest women at a young age. Elizabeth would go on to forge her own acting career and delivered a remarkable movie debut in the highly regarded thriller in 2011.
She went on to star in the fine thriller and the dramedy before joining the Marvel Universe as Scarlet Witch Wanda Maximoff. The huge success of the spin-off series came at a time when Olsen was considering where she wanted to go creatively.
“I think a huge turning point for me was a show I did called . It's a hard show to watch, but I got to produce it from the earliest conception in a pitch room to the colour correcting and sound mixing.
“Shows are different to films, because there are actually more steps, but getting to see that and spend all those hours putting that show together reawakened something that made me fall so deeply in love with the doing and the making and then wanting more from this job.
“I also luckily got to have have its cultural moment the way it did, because that put me in a position again, of being considered for things in a different way.
“Those were like two different turning points — one was more like a creative, intentional one, and then the other one created this opportunity.”
She feels that growing up in the industry and in LA made her feel an acting career was possible — but also left her with no illusions as to the work involved. “It wasn't about stardust, it was something that you went to work to do. And so I think while it seemed tangible, it actually felt like a grounded reality. It didn't seem like it needed to be something with photographers and billboards and things like that. I thought of it as much more of a job.”
This summer, Olsen has been working with a rising Irish filmmaker. Following from his debut thriller and the well-received coming-of-age dramedy , David Freyne cast Olsen and Whiplash actor Miles Teller in his forthcoming rom-com . The movie’s premise revolves around a world where you have a week after dying to decide who you want to spend eternity with. She is looking forward to the prospect of seeing the finished film.
“I know David is still working on his edit, and I'm really excited to see it. It was really a joy getting to say the lines he wrote and be in the world that he built.
“The draft David put together of this script had this timeless humour, this Billy Wilder-esque humour. The world building that he made with his references — being a big one for us — so many, like , then even these comedies from the 90s, like . It was so specific, his humour, and visually, what he wanted to do.”
- is on Netflix from September 20
Cork Cine Club returns from September 26, with a new season returning to its regular home at Cork College of FET Douglas Street Campus over the coming months.
In the weeks ahead CCC will bring audiences films from around the world.
This autumn’s screenings kick off on Thursday, September 26, at 8pm with [Germany], followed by Thursday, October 3, [Japan]; Thursday, October 10, [Lithuania]; Thursday, October 17, [Iran/Australia]; Thursday, October 24, [France/Cape Verde]. Advance booking is recommended.
- For details, see ie.powertik.com/organizers/cork-cine-club
