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eugene-my-love · 6 years

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@mostlydaydreaming. we were limited to the number of pages we could write. i could have gone on for so much longer

This is my argument paper from writing 2 I took in the spring. Enjoy!!

Singin’ in the Rain:

Putting Smiles on Faces for More than 60 Years

Kandace Feorene

“I like old movies too! My favorite oldie is Pulp Fiction/Forrest Gump.” These are the words every classic film lover despises. My blood boils every time I hear similar phrases. The bubbling is new, yes, I will admit that, but it is genuine. I got into classic movies in July of last year, and I hope I never see the light at the end of this sometimes black and white, sometimes silent tunnel. Movies have been around for over 100 years, and the golden age of them is just that, golden! It started when the talkies were introduced in 1927, and there was no stopping them from there. That is of course until television came along and put an end to it slowly but surely (but let’s not open up that wound). Yes, films still have a significant role in today’s world, but the 30s, 40s, and early 50s were special to the industry. The studio system was roaring as though it would never end. Great characters who deliver beautiful words were the focus in the movies. Good stories were prominent because they couldn’t blow up buildings. The movie musical was big and beautiful being filmed on huge studio lots. There were many made in the golden era of Hollywood, but the best musical and movie ever made is Singin’ in the Rain.

If you’ve never seen it, get a hold of it as soon as possible and watch it. Make sure there are no distractions around. Tell people around you to be quiet. This masterpiece demands your undivided attention. Also, if you haven’t seen it, the title is referencing the title number. I would agree that not all old movies are accessible to most audiences. Some are slow and boring, as are some today. But Singin’ in the Rain is the best example of how people can enjoy movies that are over 60 years old. It is a classic in the true sense of the word.

Singin’ in the Rain was released in 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and is number one on the American Film Institute’s (AFI’s) list of Greatest Movie Musicals of all Time (American Film Institute, 2006) and number five on their list of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time (American Film Institute, 2007). It was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989 (its first year) for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” (Library of Congress). Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, with supporting cast members Jean Hagen, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the screeching star, and Millard Mitchell, the plot is simple: “talkies” are introduced into Hollywood, and a fictional silent film production company (Monumental Pictures) must convert. Their problem is Lina Lamont, a gorgeous star whose voice rivals nails on a chalkboard. Laughs ensue as producer R. F. Simpson tries to hold on to Lina’s star status through filming her first talking picture, The Dueling Cavalier. Monumental Pictures replaces Lina’s voice with Kathy’s. Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds was 19 while filming Kathy Selden’s journey from, in the words of Don Lockwood, “humble player” to star. Life imitated art after the picture was released, because Singin’ was Reynold’s breakout role.

Classics are hard to define, but easy to recognize. Singin’ in the Rain is, obviously, also the best classic movie ever made. The title number is often regarded as the most recognized dance sequence in all of film. Audiences appreciate it even more when they learn that Kelly had a fever of 103 while filming it (Ward Kelly, 2016). The script is unlike most musicals. The lines are witty and smart. One of my favorites is when a member of the publicity department says “Lina, you’re a beautiful woman—audiences think you’ve got the voice to match. The studio’s got to keep their stars from looking ridiculous at any cost.” O’Connor’s character responds with “No one’s got that much money” (Comden and Green). There is a story, and it interests the audience. Most musicals just have some scenes in between numbers that distract from the singing and dancing, but the scenes and numbers combine beautifully to create the perfect film that never skips a beat. The story is also educational. Writers Betty “Comden and her long-time writing partner, Adolf Green, interviewed washed-up silent film actors, read old magazines and viewed archival films during their writing process” (Laffel, 1992). So, the comical situations throughout the movie are true on top of hilarious. Jean Hagen’s comedic timing is gold. Similarly, Donald O’Connor’s, who won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, humor is never distracting from the story. His iconic Make ‘Em laugh number makes audiences of all ages light up. The 17-minute Broadway Melody number is a sight to behold. The colors are bright and exciting. The sets provide for lavish sequences. Each dance number, choreographed and staged by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, is special in its own right and doesn’t let you take your eyes off the screen. “Each draws from a different technical and aesthetic base: the traditions of lyrical ballet, modern dance, theatrical dancing, exaggeratedly hackneyed tap, familiar social dances, Euro-western folk steps, and a light feathery tap style form an elaborate grammar, the breadth and mastery of which was unique to dance” (La Pointe-Crump, 2004, 66). Kelly and O’Connor’s tap sequence Moses Supposes is very often regarded as the best tap number on film. Singin’ created a star out of Reynolds. She had no previous dancing experience, so Kelly had to teach her from scratch. She was a gymnast, so she knew a little bit about physically working hard, but dance is a whole other ballgame when it comes to technique. Future EGOT recipient Rita Moreno was also a player in the film’s success playing the “Zip Girl of the screen” Zelda Zanders (Comden & Green). Its influence is startling. Let’s take me, a pessimist. I want to sing in the rain now. A self-proclaimed pessimist is happy when it rains because I can play the song and sing along to the greatest classic film ever made.

I am not the only one in the world who has been impacted significantly by this glorious movie. I have met others online who share my thoughts. We talk occasionally, and they were nice enough to give me quotes on their thoughts on the film. Sherrie (2018) perfectly summarizes why people should watch it:

“I think it is the perfect introduction to movie musicals. It’s the first time I really appreciated all the time and skill that went into them. Most modern type musicals are mostly sung (and many auto-tuned) with maybe a few simple dance steps put in. Singin’ in the Rain is just a showcase of “triple threat” performers tied together by a brilliantly written script managing to combine heart and humor without being dated. The supporting characters are solid and memorable. The musical numbers are so well put together sometimes I’ll just watch them back to back and marvel at how all these came from the same movie. This coming from someone who, with a few exceptions, didn’t even like most old movie musicals.”

Sherrie mentions the most amazing feat of this film: the fact that there are so many iconic numbers. Almost all of them are extremely recognizable to people. The title number is the obvious one. It is the most recognizable dance number in all of film, and for good reason. Kelly exudes joy and love, and even though the steps are some of the easiest for a skilled dancer, he makes each special with a different splash in a puddle or shrug of his shoulders. My other friend Lena (2018) explains a concept that is talked about a lot with Singin’:

“It’s special to me because it was my first introduction to Old Hollywood movies. My family is full of movie buffs, and Old Hollywood movies are a staple for references we all make. When I was ten, my mom told me she thought I was old enough to appreciate it. I don’t think I’d ever laughed so hard at a movie up until that point! The colors, the music, the humor, the romance, it all got to me! Its quality and story still hold up to this day! And it stuck because Old Hollywood is a huge part of my life now, and it’s all because of Singin’ in the Rain!”

If you were to ask people what their first Old Hollywood movie was, a good amount would say Singin’ in the Rain. I showed the film to my best friend a couple of months ago (it was her first Old Hollywood film too) even though she insisted on not watching it. When it was over, she just stared at the screen and apologized to me for saying she did not want to try it. It really is the perfect combination of most genres. There is humor, romance, drama, singing, dancing, and even a little bit of action! If you want to start watching classic films, there is no better movie to introduce you to them while meeting your needs of different movie genres.

The film earns the title of best picture ever made for not just what you see on film, but for the dedication that went on behind the camera as well. The film was directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, and the witty screenplay was written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who were legends in their field. Singin’ was Kelly’s second directing venture. He and Donen directed On the Town in 1949, which was a huge success. MGM was happy to see the two team up again since On the Town resulted in a healthy profit. Kelly was involved in practically every aspect of filming. Rita Moreno (2013) remembers filming, "I visited the set every single day. I did maybe, oh, a week and a half's worth of work on that show. But I visited all the sets every single day.” She only had a few scenes, so she could spend her time observing a legend creating his masterpiece. Kelly even had input in the wardrobe. For the iconic Broadway Melody sequence, he cheated the despised Hays Code, which was the code movies had to follow so films were family friendly. He told the wardrobe department to put slits in Cyd Charisse’s bright green flapper dress because a dancer’s lines should be seen (Ward Kelly, 2016). The slits disobeyed the Hayes Code’s rules on how short a dress can be, but since the material met the requirements, the censors couldn’t touch it. It is worth noting that Charisse had given birth just a few months before shooting her scenes. Kelly’s directing style was unique. He wanted the camera to dance along with the dancers, so the audience didn’t miss a single move. This is evident in Kelly’s part in Broadway Melody before he dances with Charisse. As an audience member, you feel as though you are dancing with him. Kelly’s service in the photographic unit in the Navy gave him the opportunity to explore the filmmaking process. Before the Navy, he was mostly interested in choreography, but after leaving the service, his interests in the movie making process as a whole grew. The Broadway Melody sequence is 14 minutes long. The studio had no problem with the number, since Kelly’s An American in Paris won best picture the year before. An American in Paris had a 17-minute-long ballet sequence, also directed by Kelly, that is also spectacular and should be watched by everyone. Kelly wanted Donald O’Connor for the part of Cosmo Brown. Rita Moreno (2014) said she once told Kelly, “I hope finally people will recognize what a great talent this man is, and he said that’s precisely why I had him in the film.” For his solo number, the film was lost so he had to do the whole energetic sequence again. Since he smoked many packs a day, he had to rest for a few days because the tricks took so much out of him.

This film has brought so much happiness into my life, and I know it will do so for others. If you are sad, the song, dances, and jokes will bring out of your slump. If you are happy, it will enhance your mood. Adolph Green once said, "You know what's wonderful. To be somewhere strange in a foreign country where no one knows you and to be introduced as the people who wrote Singin' in the Rain and to watch the people smile. It's a favorite film the world over. There and here people are always telling us that the family sits together to watch it” (as cited in Laffel, 1992). This quote was from the 90s, but it is due to this day. The dialogue, performances, music, and moves make Singin’ in the Rain the greatest motion picture of all time.

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pageturnersblog · 4 years

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We are excited to be one of today’s stops on The Summer Set by Aimee Agresti Blog Tour. Thanks to Graydon House Books for the review copy and including us on this tour.

The Summer Set is a fun “beach” read. It reminds me a lot of the rom-com movies of the recent past like Leap Year and When in Rome. Charlie, our dashing staring lady, has a storied past and as you read on, is just fun, someone you’d want to call your best friend. She’s obviously a little broken, and has some things to work on, but her journey is one I’m along for the ride on.

The story follows her to a summer theatre festival where she performed at early in her career, and it’s now run by her ex, Nick, who directed her breakout theatre performance at this very festival and later, movie. She is part of the professional company doing three Shakespeare plays throughout the summer. The professional company is also joined by some younger apprentices, learning the different crafts of theatre. I love that two of the apprentices also get POV moments in the story, mirroring Nick and Charlie. This what a little confusing to follow at first (probably because of the eARC formatting), but once I really got into the story, it was fun to see the big moments from the point of view of our younger, soon to be stars.

Also, if you are wondering why Aimee’s name sounds so familiar to YA readers, her first book was ILLUMINATE, the first book in the Gilded Wings Trilogy.

Thank you Graydon House Books for the provide author Q&A with Aimee.

Q: Please give your elevator pitch for The Summer Set.

A: Gladly! THE SUMMER SET is a romp about a former Hollywood It Girl—Charlie Savoy—who flamed out, left the film world and now is almost 40 and back at the summer Shakespeare theater where she got her start as a teen….and where her ex is the artistic director. Drama and hijinks ensue! But it’s really a universal story about old flames, old friends, old rivals and second acts: having the courage to shake up your life!

Q: Which came first: the characters or plot line?

A: They sort of arrived together! This idea has been with me for a long time: I always had Charlie, my main character, and this sense of wanting her to be embarking on a “second act.” I wanted to tell the story of a bold, wild child kind of star who flamed out early and had to start over and figure out what she truly wanted. I always knew this character would be the type who seemed confident to anyone watching but was actually much more vulnerable deep down. Someone who’s acting as much offstage as onstage!

Q: Why do you love Charlie and why should readers root for her?

A: I really loved writing this character: she’s impulsive and aggressive and tough and uncontrollable. But all of her bravado is covering up how out of place she feels, how nervous she is to be back in the theater world after feeling like she failed in her film career. Anyone who has ever tried to act like they had it all together while actually being unsure on the inside (which I think is all of us, right?!) will understand Charlie and feel she’s a kindred spirit.

Q: We can see from your bio that you have written extensively about entertainment topics. Have you ever been involved in theatre yourself? If so, in which capacities? If not, what fascinates you about the theatre world?

A: As anyone who saw me as Miss Jones in Sherwood High School’s 1994 production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying would know: I am that drama geek who loves theater as much as humanly possible while having no actual talent. ;) I was lucky enough to grow up in a small town with a fantastic theater—the Olney Theatre in Olney, MD—and I volunteered there (offstage!) all through high school. It was an amazing place because the actors were incredible, they were New York-based, and they would come and actually live together at a residence on the theater property. I’ve always had an overactive imagination so I remember wondering what went on there: which ones were friends, which ones weren’t, was anyone hooking up?! I was fascinated. That experience hanging around there definitely sowed the very early seeds of this novel!

Q: Obviously you've interacted with many celebrities. Who were the most fascinating to talk to?

A: Oooh, there were so many fun ones: George Clooney is my all-time favorite (he’s EVERYONE’S favorite!) because he’s just a supernice guy and is that type who seems to always be having a great time. Some more of my favorites who also had that same warm spirit and were so much fun to chat with: Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Grant, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the list goes on!

Q: If you could star in a movie or Broadway show, which one would you choose and why?

A: HA! OMG, I love this question! Since THE SUMMER SET is set at a summer theater, I’ll choose Broadway! Wow, there are just. So. Many! I would love to be Angelica in Hamilton and Mimi in Rent and Roxie in Chicago! I assure you I would be absolutely TERRIBLE in all of these roles but it would be tons of fun!

Q: What was your last 5 star read?

A: I just re-read a favorite--THE LOST VINTAGE by the wonderful Ann Mah! It’s an absolute gem of a novel about love, secrets and drama in French wine country. Beautiful writing, fantastic storytelling and it also satisfies the wanderlust we’re all feeling these days.

Q: What is one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

A: Oh wow, I feel like even five books in, I’m still learning! But I think one thing I never would’ve expected before I published my first novel is that every time a book comes out you feel that HUGE excitement but also that little rush of nerves, like: “OMG this thing that, for years, only lived in my head and on my laptop is now out there!!! Aaaah!” Or maybe that’s just me? ;)

Q: What inspired you to become a writer?

A: A love of reading! My mom is a librarian so I grew up reading everything in sight and I’ve just always loved escaping into books. I went to journalism school and worked in magazines, which I absolutely adored, but I always dreamed of writing novels, so I feel incredibly lucky to get to do this!

Q: What was your journey to get your first book published?

A: Great question! My first novel was ILLUMINATE, the first of my YA Gilded Wings Trilogy. I tend to write the book I most want to read at any given time and I got lucky that when I was in the mood for YA, so were a lot of other people, so that worked out! But I actually wrote another book BEFORE that one—it was a totally different vibe and not YA--that just didn’t hit things right, for whatever reason. I always say that publishing--the fiction world especially--is like falling in love and you need the right person to read the right manuscript on the right day and have the right connection to it in order to get published. I feel very lucky every time a book gets published!

Q: Let’s talk about your writing, what is your writing process like? Do you follow an outline or do you just see where the story leads you?

A: I’m a major outliner! I need to have everything mapped out. I need to know this journey has a destination. I admire writers who can let things unfold as they go—how freeing that must be!—but I’m a planner, it gives me comfort. Although, there are plenty of twists that only present themselves when you’re in the middle of writing so I do always let myself deviate from my outline too, great stuff comes out of that!

Q: Do you share your work along the way or wait until it is complete to have others read?

A: My sister is my beta reader and she is amazing! Sometimes I’ll give her the book as I’m writing it, as I did with THE SUMMER SET, and other times I’ll wait until it’s all finished (like with my previous novel, CAMPAIGN WIDOWS), it mostly depends on how tight the deadline is! She’s incredible and I’m so grateful for her close eye and the time she spends doing this for me. Since she enjoys the same books/films/stories/genres as I do, I know that if there’s something in my novel that isn’t working for her then it’s not going to work for any reader! She’s the best! If you’re reading this: Hi, sis!

Q: What inspired you to write The Summer Set?

A: I’ve always loved the film/TV/theater/music universe. I started out writing for entertainment magazines—Us Weekly, Premiere—and those jobs were incredible and offered me this amazing glimpse into that celebrity world with all of its ups and downs and drama and excitement. I’m an arts girl so I think there’s something magical about the way a great show, whether on stage or screen, can transport you or connect with you or seem to understand you. And I think the people who are able to bring those stories to life are fascinating!

Q: What projects are you currently working on?

A: I’m (slooooowly) at work on the next novel! It’s in those early stages but it’s an idea I’ve had for a long time so I’m excited! Wish me luck!!

Q: What’s your favorite genre?

A: Oooh, that’s tough! I actually will read anything and everything! For me, it just depends on the story. I’m always on board for great writing and the kind of storytelling that keeps me hooked and turning pages!

Q: Who is your favorite author?

A: I could never choose just one! I grew up on the classics (Austen, the Brontes, Hemingway, Salinger, on and on!) and I adore them so much and revisit them often like checking in on old friends! As for contemporary authors, I love Tom Perrotta, Nick Hornby, Emma Straub, Dave Eggers, Elizabeth Gilbert, to name a few! There are so many that I love and admire!

Q: What are your top 3 favorite books of all time

A: Oh man, this is REALLY tough because there are just soooo many. But I’ll go with these:

--Pride and Prejudice: I could read this every day! I’m completely Jane Austen-obsessed so I actually feel that way about all of her books. Even now, I’m thinking: should I choose Emma?! Or Persuasion?! How do you choose?!

--The Catcher in the Rye: I love everything Salinger. But Holden Caulfield was my first literary crush!

--A Moveable Feast: I also love everything Hemingway but I’ll go with this one because I’m pretty sure I belong in Paris in the ‘20s. (Aside from my very bad French.)

Q: How do you decide what kind of journey you want your characters to go on?

A: That’s a fantastic, huge question! Those first flashes I always have of a novel are of the main character in some sort of inner turmoil. So I tend to know the reason I’m going to be telling their story in the first place, but figuring out how to show it all and get from point A to B to C, takes a lot of mapping out!

Q: Would you ever write YA fantasy novels again?

A: I love this question! Absolutely, if the right story sparked! I had so much fun writing the Gilded Wings Trilogy, I miss those characters and still think of them and what adventures they might still be having! And I do miss writing magic and superpowers, it was always exciting to get to dream up those elements. So, you never know, I might just have to get back to that! ;)

THE SUMMER SET

Author: Aimee Agresti

Publication Date: May 12, 2020

Publisher: Graydon House Books

Buy Links:

Harlequin

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Powell’s

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @AimeeAgresti

Instagram: @aimeeagresti

Facebook: @AimeeAgrestiAuthor

Goodreads

#book review #summer romance #rom com #beach read #summer reading #Summer Reads #theatre #theater fan #theatre fan #theater #theater festivals #aimee agresti

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bewitching-elizabeth-olsen · 7 years

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Press: The Secret to Elizabeth’s Super Low-Key, Totally Normal, Really Actually Enviable Success

VANITY FAIR – She’s an Avengers regular and grew up with some very famous siblings, but Olsen has managed to carve out a steady, laid-back niche for herself in Hollywood. After some career choices she now wishes she maybe had played slightly differently, Olsen is back with two very different films and enjoying “nothing being too precious.”

Every time I wear these jeans I forget to ask for a black napkin,” Elizabeth Olsen laments, realizing white fuzz remnants have attached themselves to her black jeans. The actress drove herself to our lunch at a trendy Los Angeles eatery. She’s wearing a very low-key black long-sleeved shirt with the very low-key black pants, and she isn’t wearing any makeup. No one in the crowded patio area, a few days before the Fourth of July, seems to notice her, even though we are seated facing inward, our faces on full display for fellow lunch diners.

Olsen is an actress in one of the most successful film franchises of the decade and she bears a noticeable resemblance to her very high-profile, extremely successful fashion-designer older sisters: so it’s perhaps a bit surprising just how much she flies under the radar.

“[Sometimes] people are like, ‘Have we met before? You look familiar. You’re an actress? What have you been in?’” Olsen explains. “And then you have to start listing your credits, and you’re like, ‘Maybe the Avenger movies?’ ‘No, I’ve never seen a superhero movie.’ [Avengers] is what I always go to . . . I don’t look really like that person in the movie.”

She is inquisitive in a way that actors are not always. She looks up at me after digging in to our burratta appetizer, which I haven’t touched: “This is so good! Are you lactose intolerant?!” When I explain during a digression about live music that I’m always worried I’m blocking people’s views at concerts, she interjects, “By the way, I bet you are!”

The night before, Olsen threw a low-key (everything is so low-key!!) surprise party for her hairstylist and long-time best friend, Clay, at her place near Laurel Canyon. “I got a group together and cooked, and we all ate outside and stayed outside the whole time on the patio and the deck.” This might be hard to believe (though it probably won’t be), but she tells me that before a photo shoot the day before she was walking down a trail by her house and “just picked these weird brush from the ground.” She explains, “I made a little flower arrangement. Just starting your day [like that] is so nice.” During a discussion about film release dates, she takes stock of her chipped nail polish, which had been applied for the photo shoot the day before. “I don’t know why they ever do my nails. This is fresh nail polish, chipped and bent. I need to just take it off. I never wear it, and I wash my dishes too much to have nail polish on.”

This seems like the dream, doesn’t it? To be a very successful actress and yet to still be able to eat out relatively unnoticed and pick weird brush from the ground when you feel like it and to not at all have the vibe of “that person in the movie.”

It is likely for some of these very reasons that Olsen was the first choice for the team behind Ingrid Goes West, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year and hits theaters on August 11, to play the integral character of Taylor. The sizzling, clever film stars Aubrey Plaza as the slightly unhinged Ingrid, who moves across the country after a breakdown, obsessed with a woman she comes across on Instagram. Taylor’s life seems impossibly whimsical and gorgeous and idyllic. “Taylor, for me, was everything,” Plaza, who also served as a producer on the film, tells me on the phone. “That part needed to be someone that was truly obsession-worthy. We had a very tiny, short dream list of women that we wanted for that part, and Elizabeth was at the very top of that list.“

As it turns out, Olsen also has another high-profile film out this month, as she stars in the dark, intense Wind River, opposite her Avengers co-star Jeremy Renner. (She filmed Wind River before she shot Ingrid Goes West last summer.)

Though it could be argued she was extremely well-positioned for a career in the arts, Olsen is very deliberate in pointing out that she put in the work to achieve acting success. She didn’t get into first-choice Brown University, so she attended New York University. She auditioned for roles throughout college (also completing a semester abroad in Russia, where she studied theater). “The first job I didn’t get that I really wanted” was Shakespeare in the Park, she says; but because she did not book it (after going through four rounds of auditions), she was able to take a part in the indie film Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2011. That role—as a woman who escapes from a cult—earned Olsen many film critics awards, and it set her career in motion.

That the film launched her on the trajectory it did came as something of a surprise to Olsen herself. “I didn’t understand independent film. I didn’t follow it. I just assumed independent movies were . . . when I was at Blockbuster and saw a movie that I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know Maggie Gyllenhaal did this movie, I’m going to pick it up,’ that’s how I watched them.” She says that everyone told her at Sundance after the film’s premiere that her life was going to change, but she didn’t believe it. “I was like, ‘Doubt it, but cool. You guys are all living in a bubble.’ I thought everyone was living in a snow globe, and it was a weird thing where everyone thought it was so important what was going on [at Sundance] and I was like, ‘They’re movies.’”

But as it ended up playing out, it was the sort of moment an actress dreams and dreams and dreams will come to fruition. You’ve been on the audition grind in New York for years, and now you’ve got your breakout indie-film role and you’re at awards shows and on red carpets and appearing on magazine covers. You open your front door to find towers of scripts piled on top of each other.

When Olsen talks about those first few post-Martha years, though, it is clear that she perhaps wishes she had made some different choices (her subsequent films included the Josh Radnor indie Liberal Arts, the poorly reviewed Very Good Girls opposite Dakota Fanning; and a Godzilla remake). “I think the thing that I wished was that I had maybe, I mean I don’t wish anything was different . . . But what I would have told myself then was to be patient in choosing the next jobs and to believe the noise a bit and to know that this is a hard place to get to. It just kind of happened quickly. I had to learn how to make work choices; I had to learn how to pick jobs differently. I went through a few years of kind of just doing things because I was so lucky and happy to be offered opportunities. I just was so happy that people wanted to hire me and so I just kind of did things that, in hindsight, I could’ve made smarter choices that could’ve led to a different place.” She continues, “I learned in time and that’s good, [I] eventually figured it out, but there were certain opportunities that I think I could have waited around for, to work with certain directors and be a little bit more niche.” She snaps back to the present, and to the two films we’re discussing: “But I love where I am now and I love these projects that are coming out, and I feel like I’m starting to get into what I really want to be. . . . I’m right now having so much fun with nothing being too precious and having the ability to make smart decisions.”

After the success of Martha, she says, “I kept thinking, ‘I’m not overwhelmed’—but I was. Looking back, I didn’t know what was going on.”

Olsen was not an Instagram user when she took the part in Ingrid Goes West, but she says she immediately had a sense of who Taylor was, the sort of woman other women (and men) couldn’t help but stalk obsessively on the platform, wanting to be her and also semi-hating themselves for wanting to be her.

Plaza describes her first meeting with Olsen for the project. “[The director] Matt Spicer and I went to her house and met her there. And she has homemade guacamole set out in a beautiful bowl. It was like a scene from the movie. She has exquisite taste. And she is just one of those women that just kind of does it all and looks great while she’s doing it.”

The film helped Olsen to understand social media a little better, and she now has an account for herself, outfitted with “official” in her handle and all. “I don’t want to create more attention on myself,” she says. “I know that [being on social media] might help with maybe getting some sort of [brand] campaign or something, but primarily, I care about my work, which is being a actor, not a brand and not that I eventually start selling something.”

When I ask if she’s concerned at all about distracting from her on-screen acting work with her social-media presence, she says she has changed her thinking on that topic slightly. “I think I used to say that—I want people to just see me as my character for whatever they’re watching—but I think at the same time, you can reach a certain amount of success, the way Jennifer Lawrence did, where you’re watching her and you can make the decision about whether or not you’re distracted because you know Jennifer Lawrence or Anne Hathaway or someone who’s super-famous . . . or their acting is that great that it transports you. I don’t think you can control that.” She adds, “I definitely, consciously don’t go to events I don’t really need to be at, and I don’t go to things that don’t make sense for me to be photographed at because, one, I don’t like being photographed; two, I don’t like going to those events unless I have a purpose to be there.”

Olsen is not a fan of paparazzi, no surprise. “I’ve never enjoyed, obviously, having a paparazzi pop out of a car or a bush. It feels like someone is trying to hurt you.” And she does not seem thrilled with questions about Mary-Kate and Ashley, either. It’s not until lunch is nearly over, as we’re about to get up from the table, that she references the twins directly. She says the question she is most sick of being asked by interviewers is what her childhood was like. “Probably less weird than yours!” she says with a laugh, mimicking her go-to response. “They were always working. It wasn’t like they weren’t working and then they were,” she explains. And that’s true: for as long as she’s been alive, Mary-Kate and Ashley have been Mary-Kate and Ashley. It’s, as a melodramatic narrator in a film might say, the only life she knows. She concludes, as we stand up: “Also, I’ve been doing this for five or six years now—are we really still talking about [my sisters]?”

When I ask if she has a “Taylor” in her own life, someone she’s always looked up to in an aspirational sense, she brings up another set of sisters entirely, the Haims, with whom she grew up, and who now form the eponymous, critically-adored pop-rock trio. “There were always the cooler kids, the ones who were just cool, who wore bright-colored hats and lived in do-it-yourself homes or D.J.’d. They found the coolest things at a thrift shop. The Haim sisters, I knew them growing up, and I was always like, Danielle has the coolest style. . . . I would see them—this was obviously before they were successful—I just remember seeing [Danielle] in high school and being like, that’s a really cool jacket, a really cool vintage piece. Those were the people I looked up to.”

She sighs. “It’s a lot of effort to be that cool for me. For some people it comes easily; it did not come easily to me. I’ll just be my weird nerd, the quirky whatever.”

Olsen had worked with Renner on Avengers, and was thrilled he wanted to come on board Wind River—Sicario and Hell or High Water screenwriter Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut—after she had already committed to the project, which opened Friday. Renner plays a game tracker, who finds himself wrapped up in a criminal investigation on a Native American reservation; Olsen plays an upstart F.B.I. agent who arrives on the scene to try and make sense of the tricky case. “I found [Renner] to be really intimidating at first. . . . When I found out that he wanted to do Wind River with me, I was like, ‘Whoa, he wants to work with me?! He thinks I’m O.K.!’”

Olsen says the “best thing” that came out of the movie was her work at the Rape Treatment Center (the investigation in the film centers on the rape and murder of a young woman on the reservation). “I trained to [become a volunteer] and then did Wind River, and it had a deeper meaning in some way because I’ve never been assaulted, I’ve never had to personally deal with anything like that.” Olsen now volunteers at the center every Tuesday. She says she was reluctant to talk about this volunteer work during recent film festivals promoting Wind River. “It was like, ‘I don’t need to tell people what charity I do.’ I think it’s funny when people are like, this is my charity. It’s also not something to brag about. It’s a really devastating thing in the world.”

The current political climate is on Olsen’s mind, as well, and also has had effects on how she has approached her job. “There were certain things . . . when we were editing Wind River where I was like, ‘I’m not going to change that line, because if a man said it no one would give a fuck.’ You’re just like, ‘I’m going to fight this one. I don’t care if she comes across as being a little rude.’” She elaborates, “I think you just want to represent women well, period, and I felt that way before the election, and I feel that way now. There’s a new meaning to it now.” She recalls, when filming the most recent Avengers film, that the whole group of actors were glued to their phones while on set. “I think we were trying to watch, live-streaming [one of the James Comey–related hearings]. They are literally saying, ‘Rolling,’ and we were supposed to be dealing with some equipment, and [Don] Cheadle and [Chris] Evans and Scarlett [Johansson] and me and [Paul] Bettany and [Mark] Ruffalo were all like streaming.” Politics bled into actual scene work, as well: “[Director] Joe [Russo] would say, ‘It’s as if you just saw’ . . . fill in the blank with a real thing that just happened. So it is constantly bringing it back to rooting it and grounding it and knowing why we’re doing these movies.”

She says she would have loved to play Elisabeth Moss’s part in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the series about a dystopian, paternalistic world. “When I saw that there was a TV show that was coming out I was like, ‘How did I not see this?!’ I’m assuming [it was because] Elisabeth Moss was attached from the beginning. I was like, ‘I wish I had heard about this.’” When trying to sum up the sort of roles she finds herself drawn to, she acknowledges it can be hard to connect the dots. “Talking about the through line of my work that I’m choosing to do—not that [the projects] need to have anything in common tonally, obviously between Ingrid and Wind River I want to be in Avengers. . . . It seems all over the place but it’s what I love: it’s quirky, it’s dark, it’s important. It’s different. [The projects I want to do] show life through some sort of more metaphorical landscape and [focus on the] kind of absurd.”

Olsen says she does not have specific goal posts for her life or for her career. “When I was younger, I wanted to own a house by a certain year, and that never happened,” she says; as each year ticked by, she would think to herself, “Yeah, but I feel like if I hold off I can get a better house later . . .” As a result, she says, “I don’t make those calls.” She does not have any upcoming film projects announced, though she is excited about a dark comedy “adult female-driven animation” project, which she says she is “finishing the deal on” now.

As we walk out of the restaurant, she tells me she’s taking private Spanish lessons now, though she isn’t progressing as quickly as she might like because she isn’t dedicating herself fully to it. We part ways on the sidewalk, and she heads to the valet to go get her car. I imagine her driving home and stopping by the side of the road to pick up a quirkily-shaped rock, or to take a photograph of a chic pond (with an actual camera, I imagine, not her phone). I’m reminded of when she told me during lunch that if acting ever became something she did not enjoy, she thought she’d “go into flipping homes.” She’s probably having a low-key barbecue tonight, I think. She’s probably going to be serving delicious mint iced tea in mason jars. All super low-key!! I take out my phone and follow her on Instagram.

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Press: The Secret to Elizabeth’s Super Low-Key, Totally Normal, Really Actually Enviable Success was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

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