Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany Talk ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the Romance Between Vision and Scarlet Witch [Set Visit Interview]

We visited the set of Avengers: Infinity War in June 2017, and today we bring you our roundtable interview with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, who play the super couple of Wanda Maximoff, better known as Scarlet Witch, and The Vision.

They talk about the scene we watched them film on set (which takes them to Wakanda), what their characters have been up to since Captain America: Civil War, the state of their relationship, what would happen if the bad guys get the Infinity Stone in Vision’s head, and the differences between working with Joss Whedon and the Russo Brothers on an Avengers movie,

[Speaking of the scene we saw filmed] You guys get off the quinjet, Vision seems a bit hurt. What happened to Vision?

Paul Bettany: Oh, I just had some really bad brain freeze. … I had a really bad, I got a curry on the plane. … I got skewered.

Elizabeth Olsen: In front of a kabob shop.

Bettany: In front of a kabob shop, which is ironic. … And these bad guys are trying to get the stone out of my head and so Wanda and I fought them off and then we’ve ended up here for surgery.

Olsen: Yes, we’re trying to. … I always get confused on how much we can talk about. … Like are we allowed to explain what we try and do in Shuri’s lab? [Publicist: “No”] No, okay. So forget that bit.

Bettany: I gotta get fixed up.

You’re like the scarecrow in Wizard of Oz when they’re putting him back together?

Bettany: Just a little bit like that.

Olsen: [After a beat] Any other questions about today? [Laughs]

What can you say about both of your characters and what they’ve been doing between the events of Civil War and now?

Olsen: We have stayed separate teams and the people on Cap’s side have been fighting more rogue missions. Hence, we all look a bit different to suggest being in hiding and we’ve been trying to within that time find points of meeting in different places in order to try and forward our relationship.

For better or worse, we have seem some of the paparazzi photos.

Olsen: It’s really sad.

Is there anything else you can say about your characters’ relationship?

Bettany: I think that Vision’s been on this quest to understand what being human is and I think Scarlet Witch [has] in a large degree helped him figure that out and what love is. [Sings] “I wanna know what love is?” It’s in the movie, that’s the scene the paparazzi [shot]. “I wanna know what love is?” Yeah, so they’re trying to figure that out.

Olsen: [Continues singing] “I want you to show me…”

Bettany: [To Olsen] I think we should stop now.

Olsen: Okay.

Bettany: [To Olsen] Don’t give too much away, don’t give too much away. [Back to press] Yeah, so that’s what’s been going on and they’re very much in love at this point.

Olsen: Soulmates.

[To Bettany] I imagine since you carry one of the stones that you’re going to have a significant arc in this story. Obviously without giving too much away, can you give us what we can expect from Vision’s story?

Bettany: It’s gonna be kinda of a significant arc ‘cause I got one of the stones in my head. That’s about all I’m allowed to [say]. No, there’s some really bad dudes who want the stone from my head and that’s a problem for Vision.

What would happen if they got it, hypothetically?

Bettany: Well, that’s a very big question and one that troubles…

Olsen: That we explore in the movie.

Bettany: Yeah. One that troubles Vision and Wanda a lot. I don’t know what to do about that. It’s really having these conversations because you don’t wanna sound slightly obtuse and being a difficult interview, but you’ve got… [trails off]

How does Vision go undercover?

Bettany: Well, you either travel to different Mardi Gras around the world or Halloween, you’re golden — Halloween, it’s his night out — or you discover the ability to change your appearance with nano-technology.

Do you get to play different incarnations of Vision or are other actors going to be brought in so he can shapeshift into different looks to be undercover?

Bettany: I wouldn’t want to lead you down the garden path, no. I don’t look like this in real life. [Laughs]

I have seen you outside with no makeup on.

Bettany: I really didn’t look like Vision playing Vision. [Says to himself] “You look a lot like Paul Bettany.”

How much would you both say that characters are dealing with the fallout of what happened in the last movie [Civil War]?

Olsen: I think in a different way not so much about the last movie and their own sagas, but this is definitely the most emotional arc I’ve done in an Avenger film, that’s for sure.

Bettany: Yeah.

Olsen: ’Cause when we’re talking about Vision becoming human, we’re talking about their relationship and it’s a pretty grounded arc.

Bettany: And significant. [Laughs] Yeah, I think it is the most emotional. Also, the cost and the danger that we’re all facing becomes more important than certain beef that people had in the past because it’s so desperate. The point of the Avengers, and by extension mankind, it’s fraught with danger. So I think old grudges are buried and put off until next time.

How would your characters describe Thanos? What do you guys think of him?

Bettany: He’s such a dick.

Olsen: I don’t really know yet. We haven’t really figured that out ourselves yet. Right?

Bettany: Yeah.

Olsen: We haven’t really gotten to that bit in the exploration, but he’s not a good guy. We don’t necessarily want to be his friend. You don’t want to be his friend.

Bettany: You don’t want to be his friend, no, but you can admire… He has an ambitious goal.

Olsen: Yes, he sets his goals very high.

Bettany: He sets his goals very high.

Olsen: I think [Josh] Brolin is doing a really cool job creating an interesting villain ‘cause he doesn’t really come across… he seems he’s defending it quite well.