In Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, we can surely expect to see characters like Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America getting into fisticuffs with various henchmen and bad guys, but action sequences will be a very different deal when Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is involved. After all, she is more of a spell-caster than a punch-thrower. What’s interesting about that separation, though, was how it impacted the approach to the character in the film, and as such, Olsen was told to see the character as more of a dancer than a fighter.
This interesting bit of background was recently provide by Elizabeth Olsen during an interview with Empire Magazine, where she went in depth about playing one the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest characters in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Discussing the way she went about moving in the skin of Scarlet Witch, the actress revealed that the director had some very specific ideas about what he wanted to see and how she would demonstrate her incredible abilities. She said,
"Joss was really inspired by dancers, and so he knew that he wanted to change visually how she moves, to be more like a dancer than a fighter. I didn't really have to do much stunt training. Instead I trained with a dancer, Jenny White, which was its own kind of soreness, but it wasn't what I thought it would be."
When thought about logically, this makes all kinds of sense. Scarlet Witch’s incredible gifts can be described as range weapons, and she can do some great damage from a distance. Still, this is a movie and she needs to appear visually interesting, so it makes sense that Joss Whedon would want Elizabeth Olsen to move more fluidly like a dancer.
Those who have been closely following the footage rollout for The Avengers: Age of Ultron will note that Joss Whedon seems to wear his appreciation for dance on his sleeve in the blockbuster. After all, the first trailer for the film that was released last year included a quick shot of ballerinas performing steps in a dark room:
Many have come to the conclusion that this is a shot from a Black Widow-centric flashback sequence in the film, but many have guessed that it is still tied to Scarlet Witch, as the powerful character is said to get into the heads of multiple characters in the movie.
To this point, Scarlet Witch’s role in The Avengers: Age of Ultron has been kept largely quiet, but knowing Marvel and Joss Whedon it’s very possible that she actually plays a very important role in the movie. We’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on her as we get closer to the film’s release date on May 1st.
