Elizabeth Olsen Says She “Tapped Out” of “Scary” Axe Scene With Pregnant Lily Rabe in ‘Love & Death’

Elizabeth Olsen recently opened up about the “scary” experience she had while filming a gruesome murder scene with a then-pregnant Lily Rabe for their new true crime show Love & Death. The actress even revealed that she had to “tap out” of filming at one point.

The HBO Max show tells the true story of Texas housewife Candy Montgomery (Olsen), who was accused of murdering her friend Betty Gore (Rabe) with an axe in 1980. While Montgomery was later found not guilty, Olsen recalled shooting the scene with a then-six-month pregnant Rabe.

“It was awful,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had a double. And they also could erase [her belly] in post. But she was in a little shirt with a six-month belly! It was crazy.”

Despite being far along in her pregnancy, Olsen said Rabe — who welcomed her third child in June 2022 — “really wanted to do everything” when it came to filming the tricky scenes.

“Lily is a really physically strong human being, and so it was like real tension, physically, and there was an element where I felt safe because we had choreography, but there was an element where I didn’t want to do everything,” Olsen recalled. “So it was a lot of things.”

Olsen — who is no stranger to fight scenes, as she famously starred in the MCU show WandaVision — revealed that her experience filming Love & Death was slightly different than what she’s used to.

“My experience with more fight sequences isn’t hand-to-hand fighting. And so it felt kind of scary at times,” she said. “And then there were moments where Lily asked me to, with the rubber ax, make contact with her body. And I tapped out and was like, ‘You’re going to have to do this with my stunt double.'”

Love & Death is currently streaming on HBO Max.