To celebrate the highly anticipated release of WandaVision, we sat down with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany to chat about the first two episodes and what it was like putting Wanda and Vision in this sitcom setting.
Here's everything we learned:
🚨 There are spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of WandaVision. So, if you haven't watched them yet, you might want to bookmark this for later. 🚨
1. First, Paul Bettany found out about WandaVision right after Vision died in Infinity War. In fact, Paul thought he was getting called into Marvel because he was getting fired, not because they wanted to pitch him a show.
2. Meanwhile, Elizabeth learned about WandaVision while getting ready to "do pickups for Endgame."
3. Elizabeth said she was initially "very thrown by the whole TV part of it all," but once she heard the concept and the story, she was sold.
4. Paul's favorite memory from filming the first episode was "running around backstage" alongside Elizabeth and Kathryn Hahn and just being "so nervous" to perform in front of a live studio audience.
5. Originally, Paul was "really resistant" to the idea of filming in front of a live studio audience, but finally just went for it and had so much fun.
6. Meanwhile, Elizabeth thought it was "terrifying" performing in front of a live studio audience, and she had so much adrenaline from "first day nerves" when filming began.
7. Elizabeth said it was amazing to watch the Marvel special effects team who are "used to blowing things up" become "puppeteers" and figure out how to make all of the magic happen in the kitchen with Wanda.
8. Elizabeth felt "so lucky" to welcome Kathryn Hahn and Teyonah Parris to the MCU with WandaVision — she said, "I can't imagine this show being with any other people."
9. And Paul said welcoming them to the family made him recall how amazing it was to join the cast, in person, in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
10. Paul described Kathryn and Teyonah as "delightful, funny, and super bright" and he said they are both "inordinately talented and willing to go along and join you in the style and the ride."
11. Elizabeth said that there were a lot of times while filming WandaVision where she and Paul would get "caught up in giggles" but because of how fast they filmed, they had to try really hard not to break character.
12. Elizabeth's favorite sitcom style they used in WandaVision was the '70s, which will be seen in Episode 3.
13. And Paul loved coming back to film exteriors for Episode 2 after their hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic — he said it was a "lovely feeling" to know that they were able to finish with everything going on.
14. Even after so many Marvel movies, Paul said he still can't stop laughing whenever he has to film a scene where he's "supposed to be floating in the air and then [having] to look up and look dynamic and cool."
15. Out of his entire time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Paul says he's "most proud" of wrapping WandaVision in the middle of a pandemic.
16. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is really proud of the moments in this show that she thought were going to be "really hard to pull off," but they ended up making it all work.
17. And finally, Elizabeth said that the "greatest thing" Marvel has given her as an actor is the "freedom" to not overthink anything and just "jumping into the deep end."
Check out our full video with Elizabeth and Paul about WandaVision and their time in the MCU below!
