The two times we met Elizabeth Olsen couldn’t be more different. The first, we were dancing all night long and hiking all day in the middle of Utah’s Canyon Point for our mutual friend
Andi Potamkin’s wedding
Sorry for Your Loss
. Olsen plays Leigh, a bereaved widow struggling to navigate her new life—a role that has her gracefully vacillating between debilitating mourning and comfort in memories (as shown in flashbacks), and the challenges within the banality of everyday life between. The realistic portrayal of grief depicted in Sorry for Your Loss, Olsen tells us, made her re-examine the meaning of true strength (hint: it’s not the antiquated belief that hiding emotion during a time of mourning is a strength). We chatted about what it took to prep for a complex role, her new venture into producing, and played a quick-fire round of Qs.
How did you get involved with this project?
“I had read the script three years ago. I had just gone through, not a death, but a loss and a life adjustment, so I related to my character [and the feeling of] being completely confused about how to move forward. We haven’t really told an authentic story about grief and the everyday
—
how it’s not something that you go through the stages and get out on the other side. It’s a continual adjustment to your life, and you can’t do anything but move forward.
“I always think about how we all have a backpack of shit that we carry with us from all the trauma that we’ve experienced (or all the loss we’ve had or the pains we’ve gone through) that are unique to each individual person. We walk through life with this weight on our back, but we walk through it anyway; you’re fine, and that’s just you. And then you add an extra loss, or something new, an adjustment, and it becomes a huge new weight—you never lose the weight, it never goes away, you just adjust how you walk through life and move forward. [
Sorry for Your Loss
] is not fancy and it’s not dramatic, but what I love about the show is that it gets cozy in the mundane and the monotony of that experience, how long it takes, and how it never goes away. You continue to have relationships with this person [you lost].”
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]
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]
It’s your first executive producing gig; what was that experience like?
“Everything was great. All the curtains were lifted. The thing that I love most about being on a set is being with a crew and having that relationship. Especially with TV, directors are moving around. Kit [Steinkellner] was on set most of the time, but sometimes she couldn’t be, and writers were different written-by’s for the episodes, so I was the most consistent thing on set with the crew, and feeling part of that team in such a big way is what I loved so much.”
Has it ignited something within you?
“Yeah, totally. There are a few people on the crew that are like, ‘Have you ever thought of doing a short? Have you ever thought of directing?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not directing!’
Yet!
“Yet. [
Laughs
] I never thought of that, but I love being that person on set with the crew... But I don’t know.”
Let’s lighten the mood a little bit with a quick-fire round…
“Okay!”
What’s the last cocktail you had?
“Vodka with lemon and lime.”
On the rocks?
“Yeah!”
Ultimate breakfast?
“I’m not the biggest breakfast person, but Sundays I’d say toast with avocado, smoked salmon, and a fried egg, and sometimes really thinly sliced cucumber.”
Hidden talent?
“I wish I had one.”
Last Seamless order for takeout?
“It was Korean food in The Valley.”
Last thing you screenshot?
“A photo of my boyfriend playing music [
laughs
]. He’s doing shows that I can’t be at, and they put up a photo, and I was like, ‘I’m obsessed with this!’”
That’s so sweet. Last thing you binge-watched?
“I’m rewatching
Game of Thrones
right now. I’m obsessed. I took a picture with a cardboard Jon Snow, and then
Kit Harington
was at the same place I was eating lunch, and I was like, ‘It’s not the same thing.’”
You know he’s here at the festival?
“That’s what I mean! This morning. I have a picture of me with a cardboard cutout of you, like a creep [
laughs
].”
Favorite villain?
“Ursula.”
If you yourself had a superpower, what would it be?
“If I’m in a playful mood: to be able to travel and just [
snaps fingers
] be somewhere else. The sincere one is the power to heal. That would be really cool.”
Best beauty secret you’ve learned over the years?
“I’ve been massaging the shit out of my face.”
Is it working?
“I don’t know, but I feel like when I look at the before and after, to me, there is a difference, but maybe I’m insane.”
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