Troubled artists who burn bright and flame out all too quickly often have a driving force behind them who hope to steer them straight. In the new Hank Williams biopic, I Saw the Light, in theaters this Friday, the iron-willed presence beside the musician—who wrestled with alcohol and pills just as famously as he revolutionized country music—was his wife, Audrey. For Elizabeth Olsen, taking on the character meant a full immersion into Audrey’s singular ambition. “To me, she was ahead of her time—a formidable woman at a time when the world didn’t want formidable women,” Olsen says, explaining that it was Audrey who set up all the meetings for her husband and even shaped his onstage persona: “She made the decision that his band should always be in suits or country attire, not in hillbilly overalls.”
Audrey paid no less attention to her own carefully composed appearance, down to the perfect shade of blonde and an ever-present red lip. Speaking by phone from Park City, Utah, where the actress is in the midst of shooting her next movie, Olsen talks about Southern glamour, the secrets behind her incandescent skin, and why reproductive rights are as important as ever.
In the film, your character has such an iconic look, with the 1940s coifs and crimson lips. How do you describe Audrey’s take on beauty?
She was always a pulled-together woman. She didn’t really wear too much makeup, but she always had a beautiful lip color on. Also, she would dye her hair so many different kinds of blondes, so we were trying to figure out a blonde that would make sense for the whole movie.
Almost like she was styling herself as a classic screen star?
Totally. She thought of herself as a star, and she thought that she was going to have a career that was just like Hank’s. It drove her crazy to think that that never happened for her. Even when she’s tired with the baby and when she has to go to the hospital, there is still a faded curl because you pulled yourself together in that time.
How did you research the role?
When you play someone who really existed, it’s nice because you have so much source material. Luckily, Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame [and] Museum is preserving, on behalf of the Williams family, Audrey and Hank’s personal photographs and journals. The funniest thing, to me, about Audrey is that she had everything monogrammed. The more money they got, the more everything just said her name on it. All of her boots said “Audrey”; all of her dresses had a big A on the chest. That’s because she was very smart in trying to create a brand.
Your skin is so radiant in the film—all the more so next to an alcoholic Hank. Is there an off-camera skin-care routine to credit?
Thank you! I think a lot of it has to do with genes [laughs]. I don’t do too many [treatments], but if I do, I go to Kate Somerville. Their cleansers are really special, as well as the ExfoliKate. I love the Dr. Colbert serum and the night cream. And SK-II—their serum is crazy. It’s the best thing in the world, especially being in Park City, because it’s so dry here.
What’s your approach to beauty from the inside out?
When I’m filming, I’m much healthier than when I’m not filming. I tend to make my own food, like grains and vegetables and different kinds of dressings. I ordered some pressed juice to Park City, and I mix a lot of smoothies. I like the Bulletproof protein bars because those are filling and clean, and I take probiotics and vitamins. But I don’t understand the people who say a glass of wine is their cheat. To me, that’s just what’s going to happen if I’m not working the next day.
The feminine ideal in the film, as echoed in the clothes, is more about a nipped waist and curves rather than the hyper-exercised SoulCycle physiques of today. Did that affect how you worked out during filming?
I didn’t consciously think about it; I naturally have curves. But I did exercise differently—I think because [costar] Tom [Hiddleston] was running, like, 10 miles a day to lose weight, and that’s not an exaggeration! So I was motivated to do more cardio. I usually do a lot of weight training and interval training, but while I was there I didn’t.
There are subthemes of women’s issues in the film; your character even has an abortion in the time before Roe v. Wade. I imagine that weighed on you.
Absolutely, because you know it’s a much more sinister and unsafe situation. We don’t lay everything out for you in the movie, but the reason why she was in the hospital was because she got an infection from the abortion. She didn’t want to bring another kid into the world because he wasn’t a good enough father to the first one. That’s so sad. So it’s nerve-racking with Texas trying to have their new law. You can see a map of Texas and how many abortion clinics would shut down, and if that happens, then all the other places where it could happen. That’s not how we should be living now.
It’s all quite a 180 from the movie you’re shooting now, where you play an FBI agent.
I was thinking about that yesterday. I’ve been doing Muay Thai for six months, just so I could understand a kind of physical self-defense for this character. I also have been doing gun training: Every Saturday I shoot anywhere between 400 and 600 live rounds at a gun range. It’s a totally different mind space than Audrey, which is fun.
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