During an extensive conversation for THR‘s Awards Chatter podcast in the Campari Lounge at the Cannes Film Festival, Oscar winner Alicia Vikander traversed her career from her upbringing in Sweden and background in ballet to her Oscar winning role in The Danish girl and her latest movie Firebrand, which will be shown in competition at the festival.
Vikander’s big break in her native Sweden came in 2010 Pure. She then attracted attention in the 2012 Danish film A royal affairalong with Mads Mikkelsen, but it was her role in that of Alex Garland Ex Machine with which she gained fame in the US “Everything that should be there is there and nothing else. A lot of it you had to understand by reading the action and emotionally understanding what’s happening in the scene,” she said of the Garland-penned screenplay. For the self-tape audition for the film, she remembers pulling her hair back in a tight bun and slathering “a full bottle” of sunscreen on her face to get the glossy look of the robot, Ava, she would eventually become. to play.
The actress earned an Oscar for her role in the 2015 film The Danish girl, in which she plays artist Gerda Wegener, the wife of Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne), one of the first known recipients of gender-confirming surgery. “It’s incredible to see where we are now compared to then Danish girl came out. Make my journey The Danish Girl was huge because I personally met and befriended so many people from the trans community,” said Vikander. “Obviously, with the way the conversation has gone now, that movie probably wouldn’t have been like that now, but it was one of the first steps. So in that sense it was an important one for the conversation.”
As a sequel to The Danish girlVikander appeared on screen with her now husband Michael Fassbender in The light between the oceans. She said, “He’s my husband and best friend, but I also consider him one of the greatest actors of his generation.”
In between indies and awards season features, Vikander has also had her turn in the occasional blockbuster, including Paul Greengrass’ Jason Bourne, in which she starred opposite Matt Damon. She says she took the part because “I was a huge Jason Bourne fan,” adding, “It’s funny to go to work when you’re the fan.” Vikander also played Lara Croft in the last attempt at one Tomb Raider film, in which he took on the role after playing the computer game as a child.
her last, Firebrandscreened in competition at the festival and from director Karim Aïnouz, sees Vikander as Queen Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, played in the film by Jude Law.
Vikander took a historical deep dive on Parr, noting that she has received less attention in history than Henry VIII’s ill-fated first wives. “Nobody really cared that she was the first woman in British history to publish books under her own name,” said Vikander. She added that she was “managing this danger and the person next to (her) all the time. To survive that, you have to be very delicate and smart.”
While telling about her career, Vikander also talked about the night of the Academy Awards for which she earned the Oscar The Danish girl. Vikander’s date that night was her mother, who recently passed away. “Over the past few months I’ve had tons of family and friends share photos,” she said in tears. “One of the most shared photos (was) of my mom and me that night.”
