Elizabeth Olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's Younger Sister, in Breakout Performance

Hey. Is this my room? Hi. How you doing? Great. You've got a really nice place here. It's as much yours as it is mine. I thought you quit. I did. I worry for you. I know. I'm sorry. Don't apologize to me, it's your body. Elizabeth Olsen, welcome to the show. Thank you. And I'm asking everybody to start the show by saying who they are and what they do for a living. Okay. I'm Elizabeth Olsen and I'm an actor in two of the films here, In Silent House and Martha Marceau Marlene, which is in competition. And yeah. And when you said in competition, does it make you just a little more scared than the one that is in competition? No, it makes me more excited actually because I actually don't really know very much about the festivals. I had to ask someone what jury meant the other day and it was a little obvious, but I just needed it to be clarified. That just means you're being judged. Right, exactly. Exactly. That's what it is. Why not? When you decide to be an actor, that's what happens. Right. For better or worse. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I couldn't have taken better care of you. The past doesn't matter. It does matter. Well, I took care of myself. I know you did. We should explain a little about a girl who has been in a cult. Yes. Been in a cult. Really no good relationship with her family, but then the cult turns a little too abusive and as much as she wants to believe that these people are living a very peaceful life, she realizes that some of the things that she witnesses are not moral. And so she leaves without, she runs away basically. No one knows. She's not really allowed to leave. She calls her sister. She hasn't seen her in two years. She's played by Sarah Paulson. And she tries to re-assimilate, but is so ashamed and confused about what's happened to her that she doesn't talk about it, but she has these things that are inherent in her personality that the cult did kind of like shape into her morale. And so Sarah Paulson's character, who's my sister, Lucy, doesn't really know how to handle it and is bothered by it. And also the audience doesn't know how to handle it either. So whether the paranoia that my character goes through is real or not is a question and what actually happens in the end is always a question. You don't want to give away any of that. But there's a real mind teaser going on in this. Explain a little about the meaning of the title with the names, with the Martha, the Marcy May, and the Marlene. Marlene was like something that just sort of dropped in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Martha is my character's name. Marcy May, John Hawks' character, who's the leader of the cult, Patrick, he believes that names are something that your old family gives you. So he'll say, well, you look more like a Marcy May because that's what I see. And he's like this visionary that you just want to be. I mean, you're talking to John in person, you just want to be in his mind. So he then names me Marcy May. And Marlene is the name that the females refer to themselves when dealing with the outside world. They're either Marlene or Michael Lewis. So they don't give away personal identity of their past. Feels good, right? Okay. Now try that. Well, explain how you got into all of this. I mean, we know that you're sisters are and that you grew up doing this in a family that was working. But when did it hit you that this was what you wanted to be? When I was 7 or 8, I started doing kids' musical theater that I have videos for that are really awful. Really? We would kill for those. But I lived doing that. And I looked for it every single summer. And we did it during the school year also. And I was a dancer. And I just pretty much tried to do anything that I could perform. I loved performing. I was that one in the family. As much as my sisters were always on set and working, I was the one who was like, wait, look at this show that I just created. And so I took classes. And since I was 7 or 8, I did take classes with professional younger children. And I just didn't really – I did it for a little bit. But then my ballet teacher said that I couldn't dance if I was going to audition because the discipline wasn't there anymore. And so I was like, oh, well, then I'm going to dance. Now I can wait until I'm older. And then I did a few conservatories in high school as well as high school stuff. And then went to college at NYU at Tisch. I'm still a student. I went to the Atlantic Theater Company. And I did abroad at the Moscow Art Theater School in Russia. And I just – I love training and I love meeting actors my age. And I actually – I think at my school at the Atlantic Theater Company, I was kind of part of a really amazing crop of actors. Well, the last question I ask everybody that comes on this show always has to do – it's a musical question. It's not just because I'm at Rolling Stone. It's a thing. And I ask everybody to sing a little piece of a song that's in their head or that means something to them. Okay. Let's see. There's – what's his – Tom – why can't – A little wooden match, let it all hang down. A broken ever rule, let it fall down. Who's – a good man is hard to find. Don't leave strangers. Sleep in my bed. Why can't I think of it? It's – what's his name? Tom – what is wrong with me? He's an actor, too. He's hilarious. And he has that voice. Tom Waits. It's a Tom Waits song from one of the musicals he wrote with his wife. When she said the voice, it's like that voice. It's like – But he wrote this beautiful song called A Good Man is Hard to Find, and I love that song. Because you're not having that problem, I assume. I'm – Not having a – I mean, it's just like you're 21. That's right. So why should you even think about it for a minute? Yeah. I'm still in school, and I'm still trying to figure out of, like, what projects I can do and people are letting me do. No, it's the great thing is you're starting this all out in this place where so many great people have started out. Yeah. So it's a great thing. Yeah. I mean, you said your dad calls you – what do they all call you? Are you Liz? Liz and my family, but no one else calls me Liz. No one would dare. Only my family calls me Liz. I don't know. I never really liked it, but my family calls me Liz. Well, then I'm just saying thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you. This was great. It was great meeting you. Thank you. Thanks so much.