Alicia Vikander is ‘more happy & content’ now that she’s married to Michael Fassbender
February 8, 2018
Alicia Vikander covers the March issue of Vogue – you can see the full cover package here. I don’t really care for the photos, but at least the interview is somewhat noteworthy. This is probably the quid-pro-quo of agreeing to a Vogue cover: you get the Vogue cover to promote Tom Raider, but you have to talk about Harvey Weinstein and Michael Fassbender. I was also struck by something which irritated me, as an Angelina Jolie fan, in this piece. Like, even though I stan for Jolie, I’ll admit that her Lara Croft movies were not the best. But you know what? Jolie was good in the role. She had a good time and you could tell. She liked fighting and doing as much stuntwork as possible and playing a sexy, capable woman. And now the current Lara Croft-reboot team is basically saying that Jolie’s Lara Croft movies were big-boobed trash. Not cool. Some highlights from Vogue:
Vikander admits she did wear a lightly padded bra to play Lara: “What little I have I kind of pushed up,.”
Vikander’s Lara Croft is different than Jolie’s Lara: “I knew I wanted Alicia to play Lara even before I met her,” says Roar Uthaug, Tomb Raider’s director, who reportedly chose Vikander over Daisy Ridley and Cara Delevingne. “She brings a vulnerability that I think is important. We’re not making a cardboard Hollywood hero. We’re making a girl that’s flesh and blood.” (Or as Dominic West, who plays Croft’s father, describes the reboot: “Less boobs, more fighting.”)
Taking meetings in Hollywood at the age of 21: “It became very apparent how vulnerable I was,” she says, recalling how she was told to curl her hair and put on high heels for morning auditions. “It was very not me, but I did curl my hair, and I did put on a pair of heels. As a younger woman, with much less self-confidence and not knowing you don’t have to do something. . . .” She trails off. “If everyone else says this is what you do, then who am I to question it?”
On Harvey Weinstein: “I was in such shock and disgust when I read those stories,” Vikander says. Tulip Fever, Vikander’s film with the producer, was released last September, just before the allegations surfaced. “I personally have never found myself in similar situations like some women who have spoken out. I’d heard that he was an incredible bully and that he does anything to get what he wants, but I never thought that meant sexually harassing women.”
Her wedding with Fassbender: She tells me it was important to her that her wedding in Ibiza remained a small, discreet gathering of friends and family. “It’s not about being secretive,” she explains. “It’s just about choosing the few things that you keep private.” For now, Vikander has managed to maintain a distance from the Hollywood machine that tends to consume its new arrivals. When she and Fassbender travel to New York, they like to stay in Airbnbs in Bushwick.Where Vikander & Fassbender will live: Recently she and Fassbender decided to settle down in Lisbon, which Vikander pronounces very “Williamsburg-ish,” describing its mix of history and turn-of-the-century factories. “And apparently Madonna moved there,” she deadpans.
On married life: “I feel I’m more happy and content than I’ve ever been.”
Whether she would work with Fassbender again: Yes, if the right project comes along. “We had a great experience, apart from the fact that we. . . .” She looks at the ring on her finger and laughs. “I think he’s one of the absolute best actors I’ve worked with. Of course he’d done more films than me, but immediately when we started to work together he was so open to wanting me to chip in new ideas and thoughts. He would be like, ‘I’m stuck; what should I do?’ and I would say, ‘You’re asking me?’ That was such a sweet thing. . . . Life is about a lot more than work, but if it’s also your biggest passion, of course it’s something you enjoy talking about.”
Well, that answered my questions about whether Harvey Weinstein was shepherding her career – Weinstein reportedly took a special interest in Vikander when he produced Tulip Fever, and many wondered if she was going to end up as one of Weinstein’s “it girls.” It’s clear now that she probably did have some dealings with him in social situations, but that he never, like, manipulated her into his hotel room, you know? As for what she says about Fassbender… moving to Lisbon? What is even going on with him at this point??
I hate this too: “Less boobs, more fighting” – as if Jolie’s Lara Croft was wandering around in a bra, posing seductively in tombs. Did they even watch those movies? She WAS fighting.
Photos courtesy of Steven Klein for VOGUE.
