Elizabeth Olsen’s “awkward” reason for avoiding Robert De Niro in public
Being an Avenger means you get to hang out with some of the coolest people in the world. Elizabeth Olsen knows this all too well. Since she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015, she’s shared the screen with some box office dynamite. Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, all of the Chrises, her android beau Paul Bettany, this is just a small sample of the stacked line-up that comprises the Scarlet Witch actor’s contacts list.
Then there’s all her work outside of the MCU. She mingled with Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche in the 2014 Godzilla remake, Aubrey Plaza and Pom Klementieff in Ingrid Goes West, and she shared the title roles with Carrie Coon and Natasha Lyonne in Azazel Jacobs’ His Three Daughters. There’s also the case of Robert De Niro.
Olsen worked with the legendary performer on 2012’s Red Lights. Directed by Rodrigo Cortés of Buried fame, the film follows two specialists as they attempt to prove that a famous psychic is not only a fraud but that he may have murdered a critic three decades prior. De Niro plays Simon Silver, the psychic, whilst Olsen is Sally Owen, a student who joins her mentors in their quest. The film itself is so-so, but getting to meet De Niro must have been a pretty good consolation prize for Olsen. You’d think so, but in fact, it just made things awkward.
Speaking to Business Insider, Ms Maximoff explained her predicament involving the Raging Bull star. “I feel like I see De Niro often, even just in a hotel or something,” Olsen explained. “We were in the same film together that no one saw, and we shared a four-hour meal once with all the other actors. I would never go up to him and say, ‘Hey!’ I wouldn’t even know what to call him. Bob? I don’t know. I just avoid that stuff. It’s so awkward.”
She makes an excellent point. It will never not be strange to see people go up to De Niro, a legend in his own time, one of the greatest actors of his or any generation, and call him ‘Bob’. No offence to anyone who goes by that name, but it doesn’t quite capture the majesty of the man behind so many phenomenal characters and moments. ‘Bob’ is your uncle who sends you a birthday card four days late, not a President Medal of Freedom honouree.
The WandaVision star has spoken extensively about her social anxiety. She’s even made it a part of her acting style, thriving off of situations where she feels uncomfortable. It’s easy to forget that, when actors are on set, they’re at work, and as anyone who’s unexpectedly bumped into a colleague on a night out will know, sometimes work friends and social situations don’t mix. “I… don’t want to put someone in a weird position,” she said, explaining that she often forgets “that I’ve worked with someone, because I assume they wouldn’t remember me.”
De Niro and Olsen haven’t worked together since Red Lights. Maybe if she gets to know him better on a professional level, then the younger performer will feel more comfortable approaching her elder in a friendly setting. Or it could just make things a whole lot worse.
