Elizabeth Olsen has backed her Marvel co-star Scarlett Johansson amid her legal battle with Disney over the release of her movie Black Widow.
Johansson has been in the headlines recently as she is suing Disney for breach of contract for releasing her standalone superhero movie Black Widow in cinemas and on streaming service Disney+ simultaneously in July. She claims the strategy deprived her of the compensation she would have earned if the film had had an exclusive cinema release.
When asked about the lawsuit in a chat with Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis for Vanity Fair, Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the MCU, offered up her support.
"I think she's so tough and literally when I read that I was like, 'Good for you Scarlett,'" she said. "But when it comes to actors and their earnings, I mean, that's just, that's just all contracts. So it's either in the contract or it's not. What about you? Are you worried about Scarlett?"
Sudeikis replied, "Of course. How could I not? She's married to my comedy brother (Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost)... Well, I mean, it (lawsuit) is appropriately bad-a*s and on brand. I think it's also married to yes, the Covid of it all and success of the streaming sites."
Their comments come days after Disney's legal team filed a motion to have the legal matter addressed in a "confidential, binding arbitration".
Johansson's lawyer John Berlinski responded to the filing with a strong-worded statement.
"After initially responding to this litigation with a misogynistic attack against Scarlett Johansson, Disney is now, predictably, trying to hide its misconduct in a confidential arbitration," he said, reports Deadline. "Why is Disney so afraid of litigating this case in public? Because it knows that Marvel's promises to give Black Widow a typical theatrical release 'like its other films' had everything to do with guaranteeing that Disney wouldn't cannibalise box office receipts in order to boost Disney+ subscriptions. Yet, that is exactly what happened - and we look forward to presenting the overwhelming evidence that proves it."
