Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured a surprise showdown between Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Earth-838's Illuminati, headlined by John Krasinski's Reed Richards. The battle was one of the many highlights of the MCU sequel, and ever since the movie's premiere, it has become a key discussion point for fans and the press.
Black Bolt actor Anson Mount, who is also part of the Illuminati, revealed that Krasinski and Charles Xavier actor Patrick Stewart were not present while shooting the scene, noting that "Krasinski’s contract wasn’t even done" and instead they had stand-in "actors playing those roles."
MCU costume designer Graham Churchyard also revealed that Krasinski's Mr. Fantastic suit was completely developed through CGI and no physical costume was made.
Now, it's the Scarlet Witch actress' turn to share more details about Krasinski's MCU debut.
Elizabeth Olsen Opens Up about her John Krasinski Comments
Scarlet Witch actress Elizabeth Olsen sat down with Variety to talk about her stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and her recent comments about working with John Krasinski in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In a previous interview with Vanity Fair back in May, Olsen, while strapped into a lie detector, pointed out that she never met Krasinski before (although they shared scenes in the Doctor Strange sequel). The lie detector specialist noted that her response came out as truthful:
VF: "You don’t know him at all?"
Olsen: "I don’t think so. No, I’ve never met him."
VF: "You were in the same movie."
Olsen: "I’ve never met him."
Lie Detector Specialist: "She’s coming out truthful."
Olsen: "Never met him. And he’s already told me that I’ve lied a couple of times, I’ve never met that man. I’ve met his wife."
In the latest interview with Variety, Olsen admitted that she was "very confused" during that time, saying that she was so sick while doing press.
The MCU veteran then further clarified that she had never met John Krasinski, revealing that they filmed their scenes separately:
"I was very confused when she was asking me those questions. I also had a terrible cold while doing press, so I feel like I had no filter because I was so sick. I didn’t have COVID, but I was sick for 14 days and it was amazing doing press sick. You just don’t care! But I also had never met John Krasinski. I wasn’t lying! We filmed it separately. I was with the stand-in. I don’t even know if they’d figured out he was doing it."
The conversation then shifted to her experience working in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Olsen noted that she didn't really know what's going on in those two Avengers movies, confirming that the part where everyone gets blipped "isn't in the script:"
"I mean, those movies I really don’t know what’s going on. I just get my pages, so I understand the part of the story I’m fulfilling. I get a story that is told to me from the Russos about what’s happening in the rest of the movie. And it isn’t in the script that everyone gets blipped."
When pressed about the fact that she couldn't read the entire script, Olsen shared that "those movies" require a script inside an office "with a security guard, on one specific iPad:"
"Those movies, you could read a script in an office, with a security guard, on one specific iPad. And I was like, “Can you just give me what I need to know?” And I don’t really need to know what happens with Robert [Downey Jr.]’s whole part of the film."
The Wanda Maximoff star then unveiled the experience of filming their death scenes in Infinity War:
Variety: "Did you know who died?"
Olsen: "Well, I knew he died, because I filmed it."
Variety: "Oh, yes, of course."
Olsen: "But we called it “The Wedding” on the schedule. But I didn’t know I got blipped away until we shot it. That was told to us that day. All of us went to the van where they had a bunch of equipment to show us pre-viz: Scarlett [Johansson], Chris [Hemsworth], Chadwick [Boseman], Sebastian [Stan]. We were all just in this van, and they said, “This is what’s happening. You guys will disappear.” And we’re like, “OK.” It was shocking. I mean, we didn’t know. We thought the movie ended differently."
Will Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch Meet the MCU's Mr. Fantastic?
It's quite unfortunate that Elizabeth Olsen wasn't able to personally meet John Krasinski on the set of Multiverse of Madness. A meeting between the two powerhouse stars would've led to a memorable behind-the-scenes interaction.
The fact that Doctor Strange 2 director Sam Raimi and his crew filmed Olsen and Krasinski's scenes separately essentially cements Marvel Studios' strict protocols with spoilers, even to its own actors. However, one would argue that the downside of doing this would affect the performance of the actors involved when filming an important sequence.
Then again, the decision to film each actor's part of the scene separately may have less to do with preserving spoilers and more to do with struggles in aligning schedules.
Still, as the MCU moves forward with more projects in Phases 5 & 6, there's a strong chance that this filming technique will be used by filmmakers, presumably on big team-up movies like Secret Wars and The Kang Dynasty.
While Olsen didn't meet Krasinski behind the scenes, it's possible that the Scarlet Witch actress will eventually encounter the actor who will play Earth-616's Reed Richards. Hopefully, the MCU will feature more scenes between Wanda Maximoff and Reed Richards in the future, one that will showcase a more positive encounter rather than the grim battle that took place in Doctor Strange 2.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+.
