Elizabeth Olsen Refused To Watch Doctor Strange 2 For A Strange Reason
Elizabeth Olsen admitted that she watches most of her films, as she wants to study what she has done in her performance, though she has not watched Doctor Strange 2.
Marvel actress Elizabeth Olsen has admitted that she has yet to watch her own performance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, although she has a pretty valid (albeit odd) reason. According to a report in Variety, Olsen missed the premiere of the film in May due to a cold, and she refused to watch the screener copy sent to her by Disney. That’s because the film was “watermarked” with her name across the screen, a process she found too distracting to watch the film with. “My name was on it and the exact time and date. It’s just distracting,” Olsen said during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which triggered a discussion about pirated movies and Fallon’s own history of bootlegging VHS tapes, thanks to his obsession with the film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.
Many actors never watch their work, for several reasons, but Elizabeth Olsen says she wants to watch her performances, to look for ways to improve. “I’m one of those people who likes to study something so I can figure out how to make it better. And so I asked them to send a copy so I could watch it, and it had my name on it and it had the time that I was watching it, and I didn’t want to watch it like that.”
To cut down on the spread of “pirated” movies on the internet, studios are forced to “watermark” screeners (copies of the film sent to cast and crew members, as well as media) with the name of the person the film was sent to. Bootleg movies used to be relegated to bad VHS copies sold on the street (Seinfeld did an entire episode about this, for you Gen Z’ers who need to research the phenomenon), but the internet made it much easier to distribute movies and “burn” DVDs for home use. Elizabeth Olsen admits to not knowing the technology to do that and seemed annoyed that Disney didn’t trust her enough to send a pristine copy.
Even without Olsen going to a theater and buying a ticket, Doctor Strange 2 was a post-pandemic hit for Disney and Marvel Studios. It has grossed over $400 million at the U.S. domestic box office, and nearly a billion dollars worldwide, despite a very small theatrical release window. Ticket sales for the film were good enough to rank it #8 all-time among all the Marvel Comic movies ever released, which now numbers more than 60. The box office take is even more impressive considering the backlash it received from some parents, who felt it was too dark and too violent for young children, which hurt attendance. The film also made the controversial decision to (spoiler!) make Olsen’s Wanda the villain, sending the Scarlet Witch on a murderous rampage that shocked moviegoers. Elizabeth Olsen discussed her character’s unexpected turn in a recent interview with Variety.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, Elizabeth Olsen has actually gotten the chance to watch Doctor Strange 2, now that it is available to watch on the Disney+ streaming service. It’s also available for purchase and rental through services like VUDU and Amazon Prime. If you’re a true film buff, however, and insist on watching on physical media (to see the film in the highest quality possible), it is also available on 4K UHD disc, Blu-ray, and DVD from retailers like Amazon, watermark free, although subtitles are optional.
