Elizabeth Olsen has shared her unique perspective on aging, saying she finds it “such a privilege.”
The 36-year-old actor, who leads David Freyne’s new afterlife romcom Eternity alongside Callum Turner and Miles Teller, spoke to USA Today about the concept of growing old and why she’s always “looked forward to it.”
“I knew one grandparent growing up. The other three passed before I was born,” Olsen said. “So I don’t see growing old as a given. I think of it as such a privilege.”
Explaining that the loss of her grandparents contributed to her “fantasy of growing old,” she added that it’s “something I’ve always looked forward to, and maybe in a weird way, because I just thought it was something that was so foreign to me and exotic.”
Olsen revealed that she thinks “a lot” about her own mortality because she has a major “fear of death.” “I don’t want to die young,” she said.
“I don’t think about an afterlife,” she continued. “I think that’s why I really don’t like the idea of dying. I would be comforted if I had a belief in something else, but I don’t. I’ve been curious, but I can’t quite believe in it.”
Olsen is one of six children. She has an older brother, Trent, 41, and two older twin sisters, former child actors Mary-Kate and Ashley, 39. She also has two younger half-siblings, Courtney Taylor, 28, and Jake, 27, from her father David’s second marriage.
The Emmy-nominated WandaVision star’s new movie, Eternity, follows her character Joan, who must decide between spending her afterlife with her longtime husband Larry (Teller) or her first love Luke (Turner).
Of the movie, out in theaters Wednesday, Olsen told the outlet that she sees its message as being about how “special the simplest and most ordinary relationships can be.”
Olsen, who wed musician Robbie Arnett in an intimate 2020 ceremony, said that she “really did relate to” Joan and Larry.
“It was almost like a fantasy I got to live out, that (my husband and I) got to grow old together,” she said.
Last month, Olsen expressed her firm belief that streaming shouldn’t be the “end-all” model.
“If a movie is made independently and only sells to a streamer, then fine. But I don’t want to make something where it’s the end-all,” she told InStyle magazine.
“I think it’s important for people to gather as a community, to see other humans, be together in a space. That’s why I like sports. I think it’s really powerful for people to come together for something that they’re excited about. We don’t even audition in person anymore.”
Eternity premieres in theaters Wednesday, November 26.
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