Cannes: Alicia Vikander on Henry VIII Film ‘Firebrand’ and Being a ‘Big Jason Bourne Fan’

During a wide-ranging conversation for DAY‘s Awards Chatter podcast at the Campari Lounge at the Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander has spanned her career from her upbringing in Sweden and past in ballet to her Academy Award-winning role in The Danish girl and his latest film Burning ember, which will be screened in competition at the festival.

Vikander’s big break in her native Sweden came with the 2010s Pure. She then turned heads in the 2012 Danish film A real dealwith Mads Mikkelsen, but it was his role in that of Alex Garland Ex car which gained its notoriety in the US “Everything that needs to be there, is there and nothing else. A lot of things you had to figure out by reading the action and understanding what’s happening emotionally in the scene,” she said of the script Garland wrote. For the self-taped audition for the film, she recalls pulling her hair back into a tight bun and putting “a full bottle” of sunscreen on her face to get the shiny look of the robot, Ava, which she ultimately would have interpreted.

The actress won 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 earliest known recipients of gender-affirming surgery. “It’s amazing to see where we are now versus when danish girl He came out. My trip THE Danish Girlfriend has been huge because I got to personally meet and become friends with so many people in the trans community,” Vikander said. , but it was an early step in. So in that sense, it was important to the conversation.

Following The Danish girlVikander appeared on screen with her now husband Michael Fassbender The light between the oceans. He said, “He’s my husband and my best friend, but I also consider him one of the greatest actors of his generation.”

Between award season indie and feature films, Vikander has also had her turn in occasional blockbusters, including Paul Greengrass’ Jason Bourn, in which he starred opposite Matt Damon. She says she accepted the role because “I was a huge Jason Bourne fan,” adding, “It’s fun to go to work when you’re a fan.” Vikander also played Lara Croft in Last Attempt at a tomb Raider film, playing the role having played the computer game as a child.

his last, Burning emberscreened in competition at the festival and directed by director Karim Aïnouz, sees Vikander in the role of Queen Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, played in the film by Jude Law.

Vikander did a deep historical dive on Parr, noting that she’s 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,” Vikander said. Adding that she was “handling this danger and the person next to (her) all the time. To survive this, you have to be very delicate and smart.

In recounting her career, Vikander also talked about the night of the Academy Awards where she won the Oscar The Danish girl. Vikander’s date that evening was his recently deceased mother. “Over the past few months, I’ve had tons of family and friends share photos,” she said, crying. “One of the most shared photos (was) of me and my mom that night.”