Alicia Vikander photographed at the premiere of The Danish Girl in London. (Image courtesy: AFP)
Washington:
It wasn't so long ago that Alicia Vikander was sharing a pint-sized London apartment with three girls and working at a Levi's store.
She was perpetually broke back then, as were her aspiring musician roommates, so when they didn't have enough money to go to the pub, they'd look at each other and ask: "Should we just watch Bourne again?" Then they'd sit around and cheer on Matt Damon's amnesiac killer-on-the-run, as they momentarily took a breather from big dreams and less glamorous realities.
A few years later, Vikander is on break from filming the next Bourne movie, opposite Damon.
The 27-year-old visited D.C. recently to promote likely Oscar contender The Danish Girl and marveled at how that four-person flat back in London was the same size as the hotel suite where she's now fielding questions. The Levis are gone, too, in favor of a white sweater, matching flowy, cropped pants and nude high heels.
"You kind of pinch your arm still," she says quietly. No matter what question comes her way, she can't help but circling back to her good fortune - and you have to admit, even in a business where sudden, stratospheric successes are as common as the phrase "new it-girl," Vikander's turnaround has been whiplash-inducing. (And she wasn't the only talent to emerge from that apartment; her former roommates are members of the group Icona Pop.)
At the beginning of 2015, few Americans had heard of the Swedish actress who on Thursday morning received two Golden Globe nominations, for her roles in Ex Machina and The Danish Girl. And she's practically a lock for an Oscar nomination for her role in the latter, playing the real-life character of Gerda Wegener. (Also Read – Golden Globe Nominations: Leonardo DiCaprio to Lady Gaga, the Full List )
Gerda was married to Einar Wegener, the first person to undergo sexual reassignment surgery, in 1930. Fresh off an Academy Award win, Eddie Redmayne plays Einar. And, while that part is flashier, requiring more obvious actorly heavy lifting, Vikander nearly steals the show in a more unassuming role. Her talent sneaks up on you.
That's precisely how she scored another high-profile gig this year. Alex Garland, the writer-director of Ex Machina, saw Vikander in the 2012 Danish film A Royal Affair and couldn't help notice how well a young, unknown actress held her own opposite the experienced genius of Mads Mikkelsen. It was almost as if she knew this was her movie, Garland said during an interview, and she was just waiting for everyone to notice.
For most Americans, the sci-fi sleeper hit was their introduction to Vikander's command of the screen, as she played a sensual, possibly manipulative robot named Ava.
But back to The Danish Girl. The script had been kicking around for more than a decade, though it wasn't an easy sell in the era before the likes of Transparent and Orange is the New Black pushed transgender experiences into the mainstream. Director Tom Hooper first fell in love with story way back in 2008.
Vikander remembers when she found out about the movie. She was on the Tube in London, reading a newspaper article about how Redmayne had signed on to star under Hooper's direction.
"I thought, 'Wow, that's a great duo,' " Vikander recalls. "I'm really looking forward to seeing that film."
Her agent called two days later and asked if she wanted to audition.
It didn't take long for Hooper to realize this must be kismet. Not only had Vikander portrayed a Danish woman before, in A Royal Affair, but her father, a psychiatrist, works with transgender patients.
When Hooper auditioned Vikander for the role, he had her read an emotionally charged scene in the movie, during which Gerda confronts Einar the morning after she sees her husband, dressed as a woman, kissing a man.
"She was so moving, I had tears in my eyes," the director says. "After the first take, Eddie turned around to me and goes, 'There's not a lot of suspense about who you're going to cast now,' and I was like, 'No, no, it's just my allergies.'"
How Vikander was rejected from theater school in Sweden - twice - is anyone's guess. (She did get into law school, however.) But she says she's learning on the job, and there's been plenty of time for that, what with her other stateside releases just since the debut of Ex Machina this past spring: there was the period drama Testament of Youth, the summer actioner The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Burnt, opposite Bradley Cooper.
It's been a busy couple of years, and Vikander isn't making much headway on her to-do list for what she wants to accomplish between filming movies. Her driver's license and that sommelier class in France will have to wait.
For now it's back to the set of Bourne, which is scheduled to be one of four releases for the actress in 2016. It's not that she's trying to work herself to death, she promises. She just keeps getting offers she can't refuse. She doesn't even have a plan other than finding like-minded collaborators and doing her best.
"Not having a greater plan doesn't mean I don't dream," she says in her gentle, soft-spoken way. "When you make clear plans in life, life is going to turn around and show you that nothing's going to end up as you think, anyway."
And she's right about that. Who would have guessed that one tiny London apartment of Jason Bourne fans would yield the franchise's next breakout star?
© 2015 The Washington Post
She was perpetually broke back then, as were her aspiring musician roommates, so when they didn't have enough money to go to the pub, they'd look at each other and ask: "Should we just watch Bourne again?" Then they'd sit around and cheer on Matt Damon's amnesiac killer-on-the-run, as they momentarily took a breather from big dreams and less glamorous realities.
A few years later, Vikander is on break from filming the next Bourne movie, opposite Damon.
The 27-year-old visited D.C. recently to promote likely Oscar contender The Danish Girl and marveled at how that four-person flat back in London was the same size as the hotel suite where she's now fielding questions. The Levis are gone, too, in favor of a white sweater, matching flowy, cropped pants and nude high heels.
"You kind of pinch your arm still," she says quietly. No matter what question comes her way, she can't help but circling back to her good fortune - and you have to admit, even in a business where sudden, stratospheric successes are as common as the phrase "new it-girl," Vikander's turnaround has been whiplash-inducing. (And she wasn't the only talent to emerge from that apartment; her former roommates are members of the group Icona Pop.)
At the beginning of 2015, few Americans had heard of the Swedish actress who on Thursday morning received two Golden Globe nominations, for her roles in Ex Machina and The Danish Girl. And she's practically a lock for an Oscar nomination for her role in the latter, playing the real-life character of Gerda Wegener. (Also Read – Golden Globe Nominations: Leonardo DiCaprio to Lady Gaga, the Full List )
Gerda was married to Einar Wegener, the first person to undergo sexual reassignment surgery, in 1930. Fresh off an Academy Award win, Eddie Redmayne plays Einar. And, while that part is flashier, requiring more obvious actorly heavy lifting, Vikander nearly steals the show in a more unassuming role. Her talent sneaks up on you.
That's precisely how she scored another high-profile gig this year. Alex Garland, the writer-director of Ex Machina, saw Vikander in the 2012 Danish film A Royal Affair and couldn't help notice how well a young, unknown actress held her own opposite the experienced genius of Mads Mikkelsen. It was almost as if she knew this was her movie, Garland said during an interview, and she was just waiting for everyone to notice.
For most Americans, the sci-fi sleeper hit was their introduction to Vikander's command of the screen, as she played a sensual, possibly manipulative robot named Ava.
But back to The Danish Girl. The script had been kicking around for more than a decade, though it wasn't an easy sell in the era before the likes of Transparent and Orange is the New Black pushed transgender experiences into the mainstream. Director Tom Hooper first fell in love with story way back in 2008.
Vikander remembers when she found out about the movie. She was on the Tube in London, reading a newspaper article about how Redmayne had signed on to star under Hooper's direction.
"I thought, 'Wow, that's a great duo,' " Vikander recalls. "I'm really looking forward to seeing that film."
Her agent called two days later and asked if she wanted to audition.
It didn't take long for Hooper to realize this must be kismet. Not only had Vikander portrayed a Danish woman before, in A Royal Affair, but her father, a psychiatrist, works with transgender patients.
When Hooper auditioned Vikander for the role, he had her read an emotionally charged scene in the movie, during which Gerda confronts Einar the morning after she sees her husband, dressed as a woman, kissing a man.
"She was so moving, I had tears in my eyes," the director says. "After the first take, Eddie turned around to me and goes, 'There's not a lot of suspense about who you're going to cast now,' and I was like, 'No, no, it's just my allergies.'"
How Vikander was rejected from theater school in Sweden - twice - is anyone's guess. (She did get into law school, however.) But she says she's learning on the job, and there's been plenty of time for that, what with her other stateside releases just since the debut of Ex Machina this past spring: there was the period drama Testament of Youth, the summer actioner The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Burnt, opposite Bradley Cooper.
It's been a busy couple of years, and Vikander isn't making much headway on her to-do list for what she wants to accomplish between filming movies. Her driver's license and that sommelier class in France will have to wait.
For now it's back to the set of Bourne, which is scheduled to be one of four releases for the actress in 2016. It's not that she's trying to work herself to death, she promises. She just keeps getting offers she can't refuse. She doesn't even have a plan other than finding like-minded collaborators and doing her best.
"Not having a greater plan doesn't mean I don't dream," she says in her gentle, soft-spoken way. "When you make clear plans in life, life is going to turn around and show you that nothing's going to end up as you think, anyway."
And she's right about that. Who would have guessed that one tiny London apartment of Jason Bourne fans would yield the franchise's next breakout star?
© 2015 The Washington Post
