Michael & Alicia Fassbender ~ A Loving Couple Thread

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I bet it really bugs Alicia that Jennifer Lawrence was able to get her stardom and Oscar on her own, with marriage and a baby following after she'd accomplished all that. No hanging her star on someone else's to rise in her career for Jennifer! Gotta believe Jennifer is aware of it too since she confirmed her pregnancy the same day Alicia confirmed having a baby. Oops!
 
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Alicia Vikander sings in 'Blue Bayou,' says motherhood has changed her 'in every way'
Alicia Vikander doesn't get nervous easily.

Since making her English-language debut in 2012's "Anna Karenina," the Swedish actress has dazzled audiences playing sentient robots ("Ex Machina") and action heroes ("Tomb Raider"), winning the 2016 best supporting actress Oscar for her aching turn in trans drama "The Danish Girl."

But there's a moment in immigration drama "Blue Bayou" (in theaters now), when her character sings at a backyard barbecue, that had Vikander more frightened than she's been in years on a movie set.

"I was actually shaking when I shot that scene, which I don't think I've done out of nerves since my first English-speaking film," recalls Vikander, 32, whose only prior singing experience was in musical productions growing up. "When I stood there, I was like, 'Wow, Alicia, this has not happened in quite a while.' "
Alicia Vikander, left, Sydney Kowalske and Justin Chon play a tight-knit family whose world is turned upside down by the threat of deportation in Blue Bayou.

Alicia Vikander, left, Sydney Kowalske and Justin Chon play a tight-knit family whose world is turned upside down by the threat of deportation in "Blue Bayou."

She had no reason to worry: Vikander handily delivers a stirring, full-throated rendition of "Blue Bayou," a mournful ballad about heartache and "happier times," made famous by Linda Ronstadt in 1977.

The performance comes at a pivotal moment in the film for Kathy (Vikander), a pregnant physical therapist in New Orleans raising a 7-year-old daughter with Antonio (Justin Chon), a tattoo artist and ex-con. Antonio was adopted from Korea when he was young and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. But after a police altercation lands him in jail as an adult, Antonio learns that his adoption was never formalized and he is now facing deportation.

"This couple is going through this very traumatic experience and feels like they're not in control," Vikander says. "The communication between them starts to have difficulties. And then suddenly, when she sings, sometimes music is a more direct way to get everything out there. It's a beautiful scene and it felt like they got to connect on a very deep level."

Chon, who also wrote and directed the drama, first learned of stories like Antonio's through friends who were adopted. Foreign-born adoptees are now protected under the Child Citizenship Act, but because of a legal loophole, the bill didn't retroactively grant citizenship to adults already living in the States when it was passed in 2000.

"Adoptees were growing up 20, 30 years later to find out they were not thought of as proper citizens, which I found absolutely shocking," Chon says. "My job as an Asian filmmaker is to bring empathy to my community, and part of that experience is the adoptee experience. I hope people have empathy for (adoptees) going through this process of deportation, because essentially the system has failed them."

Vikander, who lives in Portugal, had no idea about this issue before reading Chon's script and wanted to help bring it to light. She also connected to the film's themes of identity and belonging, as Antonio befriends an ailing Vietnamese immigrant (Linh Dan Pham) and is introduced to a broader Asian-American community in Louisiana.
She's just electric, Justin Chon says of co-star Alicia Vikander. She's always been so incredibly powerful in her work.

"She's just electric," Justin Chon says of co-star Alicia Vikander. "She's always been so incredibly powerful in her work."

The actress left home when she was just 15, moving to Stockholm on her own to train at the Royal Swedish Ballet School. She eventually moved to London, where she lived with Swedish pop artists Tove Lo and Icona Pop before her big-screen breakthrough.

"I'm extremely privileged and I've never had any issues with immigration myself," Vikander says. "But (I was drawn) to that idea of trying to figure out how you define what you are: Is it the place you were born or around the people that you choose?"

Vikander is currently in Paris shooting HBO limited series "Irma Vep," after welcoming her first child earlier this year with actor husband Michael Fassbender, whom she married in 2017.


As a new mom herself, she now feels an even closer connection to her "Blue Bayou" character Kathy, who desperately tries to comfort her young daughter and hold their family together.
When she shot the film in late 2019, "I didn't have a child yet," Vikander says. "Obviously, having a child will forever change your life perspective in every way. It's kind of a chapter in life that you suddenly get access to that you didn't have before."

Before production started on "Blue Bayou," Vikander spent three weeks in New Orleans immersing herself in the city's culture and food. When she wasn't interacting with locals to help perfect Kathy's south Louisiana accent, she was practicing alone.

"I spend so many hours talking to myself," Vikander says with a laugh. "Most of my friends are not in the film industry, and over the years, they've gotten to learn that sometimes when we're on holiday and I need to do prep for a film, I'll just sit in a corner talking."

And now, she has a new go-to karaoke song in Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou."

"I've practiced it enough!" Vikander says. "It's funny, after we finished the film, my husband was shooting in Hawaii and Justin was in Hawaii editing. So we went to karaoke and I forced Justin to sing (the song). Halfway through, he turned to me and said, 'Wow, it's really difficult.' I was like, 'Yes, I told you!' "
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USA TODAY
 
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Alicia Vikander Talks About the 'Gift' of Playing Two Characters in The Green Knight​


Alicia Vikander pulls double duty in The Green Knight.

Based on the Arthurian legend poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the film follows Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's nephew, who embarks on a quest to confront the Green Knight and prove his place at his Uncle's roundtable.

Vikander, 33, plays Esel, Gawain's on-again, off-again lover, as well as the mysterious Lady who Gawain encounters during his journey.

In a featurette — exclusive to PEOPLE — from the fantasy film (watch above), director David Lowery (Disney's live-action Pete's Dragon) reveals that the Oscar-winning actress "was one of the first people to read the script."

"She really loved it," he says. "We've been a fan of each other's work. She really brought a lot to it and was there from the very early days, the first draft."


Vikander is seen on set in the video saying, "David has really given me a wonderful little gift in this film. First of all, I get to play two different characters!"

Lowery goes on to further praise Vikander: "Working with her was a true pleasure. Just getting to watch her define these characters in different ways and yet find ways they could reflect one another was really stunning."


Patel also makes an appearance in the video to talk about his costar.

"She has this kind of precision as a performer which I was just in awe of," he gushes. "Two different accents and two totally different personalities. To watch her embody the both of those, the yin and the yang, was really amazing. It was a joy to be around."
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HBO Confirms 8 New Cast Members For Alicia Vikander Series ‘Irma Vep’

HBO has filled out the French side of the cast for its upcoming limited series Irma Vep, from director Olivier Assayas.


Joining series lead Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) are French actors Vincent Macaigne, Jeanne Balibar, Lars Eidinger, Vincent Lacoste, Hippolyte Girardot, Alex Descas, Nora Hamzawi, and Antoine Reinartz


Irma Vep is loosely based on Assayas’ 1996 film of the same name and follows Vikander’s Mira, an American movie star who travels to France to star in a remake of the silent film “Les Vampires.” With tensions rising on set, Mira struggles to distinguish between herself and the character she plays in the film, turning the story into a comedic crime thriller.


Macaigne is set to play French filmmaker René Vidal, while the other new additions will portray various crew members and actors in Vidal’s movie. Previously announced cast members include Adria Arjona (Sweet Girl), Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia), Jerrod Carmichael (The Carmichael Show), Fala Chen (The Undoing), and Devon Ross.


Assayas serves as director and writer on the series, which recently wrapped its production in Paris. He will also executive produce alongside Vikander, Sylvie Barthet, Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson, Kevin Turen, Stuart Manashil, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, and Daniel Delume.


“This is a comedy that will try and catch the zeitgeist the same way the original Irma Vep did, in a very different world, a very different era, that right now feels light years away,” Assayas previously said in a statement.


Earlier this month, The New Yorker reported that Kristen Stewart had signed on to join the miniseries, though it has to be officially confirmed by HBO. Stewart has worked with Assayas previously on the films Clouds Sils Maria and Personal Shopper. If true, this would mark Stewart’s first-ever role in a television scripted series.
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Alicia Vikander Film Lab
Alicia Vikander and Göteborg Film Festival launches educational film program for youths.


To inspire youths into a future in the film industry, Alicia Vikander and Göteborg Film Festival are launching “Alicia Vikander Film Lab” – an educational film program that seeks to give young people the tools to express themselves through filmmaking, awaken cinematic dreams and increase diversity in the film industry.


On Friday evening, Alicia Vikander was appointed honorary fellow by the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture During the award ceremony at Gothenburg Concert Hall she announced that the price money will be donated to the Alicia Vikander Film Lab, and that she will also add a private donation to the project.


“I am so honored to receive the Stena Foundation fellowship. Having the chance to collaborate with Göteborg Film Festival on the Film Lab, to inspire young people and create opportunity for them to explore the world of film is something I am hugely excited about,” Alicia Vikander says.


Alicia Vikander has been a part of designing the project and each year she will join selected workshops with the students. The purpose of the project is to get young people to open their eyes to the world of filmmaking and to discover that they can tell stories and make a change through this artform. Alicia Vikander Film Lab also seeks to awaken the students’ dreams, regardless of who they are or where they come from.


“The passion Alicia Vikander shows for young people’s opportunity to access the cinematic expression is extremely inspiring. It will be fantastic to develop the film festival’s film educational work in collaboration with her and the Stena Foundation. And who better to inspire young students that there is no limit to how far you can go than Alicia,” says Mirja Wester, CEO of Göteborg Film Festival.


“We are very happy about Alicia Vikander´s initiative and Göteborg Film Festival´s dedication to the project. We want to give children and young people access to the film as a medium and a way of expressing themself. At the same time, we want to promote the growth and development of young people and we believe that the project can contribute to that, says Madeleine Olsson Eriksson,” Chairman of Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.


Alicia Vikander Film Lab will take place in different high schools around Gothenburg and film workshops will be led by Göteborg Film Festival’s film teachers. Each year, three to four new schools from different areas in the city will join the project. The participating schools in 2022 are Kannebäcksskolan, Nordhemsskolan and Skälltorpsskolan, the latter one being the school that Alicia Vikander herself went to during her school years. During the workshops the students will make their own movies, which will premiere at a gala during Göteborg Film Festival. The project will also educate teachers to use the camera as a tool in their pedagogy.


The project will initially run over the span of three years, starting in January 2022, and is a collaboration between Alicia Vikander, Göteborg Film Festival and the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.
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Gothenburg Film Festival
 
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