‘I prefer looking for characters who do some stuff that I don’t agree with’: Elizabeth Olsen on ‘Love & Death’

Photo via Max

Elizabeth Olsen has made her own way in Hollywood by choosing diverse roles and her latest stint into the world of true crime is no different. In this Variety episode of “Actors on Actors,” she sat down with Meghan Fahy of The White Lotus to talk about the roles she likes to play, as well as her latest in Love & Death.

Unlike her sisters, Elizabeth waited until she was about four years old to start acting, when the Olsen twins cast her as “girl in car” for their 1994 film How the West Was Fun. However, she wouldn’t return to acting until 2011 when she was given the role of Sarah in Silent House. That launched her into a promising acting career that has included Wanda Maximoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014, a role that she would reprise over and over for almost a decade. However, other roles include Elle Brody in Godzilla, Jane Banner in Wind River, Leigh Shaw in Sorry for Your Loss, and most recently, Candy Montgomery in Love & Death.

The true story of Candy Montgomery, the dissatisfied housewife and friend to Betty Gore and her husband, Allan. When Betty ends up dead, the truth about the affair between Candy and Allan comes out and all eyes are on her as the suspect. Despite the fact that Betty was stabbed 41 times and the argument that self-defense is not a solid argument since Candy could have fled during the confrontation, Candy was found not guilty by a jury of nine women and three men.

In the “Actors on Actors” interview, Meghan Fahy got to the heart of playing a bad guy in a show. On paper, Candy is a lying psychopath who murdered her friend and fellow church congregant with an ax. How was Elizabeth able to bring humanity to her character?

“I don’t like making judgments on my characters — I want to understand them. So how does that end up leading to something that’s so violent? The only thing I could really hold onto is this obsession with presenting an external or an exterior to a community. I mean, weird choices were made in real life, so it was weird to navigate.”

The series is based on a deadly incident that took place back in 1980 and much of the script was taken directly from court documents and a Texas Monthly article written at the time and based on the case. The fascinating details and the question of what motivates a person to commit such a horrific crime are what captivate us. And clearly, this is what attracted Olsen to the role.

“I prefer looking for characters who do some stuff that I don’t agree with.”

Love and Death is available to screen now on Max.

About the author

Michael Allen

Contributing Writer at WGTC, Michael Allen is the author of ‘The Deeper Dark’ and ‘A River in the Ocean,’ both available on Amazon. At this time, ‘The Deeper Dark’ is also available on Apple Books. Currently under contract to write a full-length feature spy drama for producer/director Anton Jokikunnas.