Interview: Alicia Vikander on Modern Girls, Talking Robots, and Scandinavian Celebrity
Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 12:00PM 
Vikander at the SAG Awards where she won Best Supporting ActressWhen I sat down with Alicia Vikander to discuss her career she was full of surprises, and not just in the way she answered questions. She approached in what looked like the simplest black dress, nothing special at all, until she turned around and the dress had an elaborately elegant back with a trailing bow. She promptly plopped down in a chair, opened a small bag of chips, and began munching away. She's a vision, alright, but the vision kept shifting: Unadorned Beauty, Glamorous Star, Girl Next Door.
This hard to pin down picture shouldn't come as a surprise. In the short time we've been watching her she's been equally believable as a sly robot, a conflicted Danish queen, a debutate Russian aristocrat, a bohemian artist whose world is turned upside down, and a British writer during wartime.
But she's been so ubiquitous this year, both on screen and red carpets, that we're wondering which sides of herself she's yet to reveal. So we begin, counterintuively, with her future.
[The following interview was conducted before she won her SAG Award else we'd have talked about it.]
NATHANIEL R: You've had so many movies released in the last few years. If you don't slow down, what's going to be left to accomplish?!?
her career-makers: Anna Karenina (2012), A Royal Affair (2012), Ex Machina (2015), The Danish Girl (2015)
ALICIA VIKANDER: There's two more this year. As an actress you never know what's around the corner. Eddie and I still talk about that fear of not knowing as an actor if you're going to get work.
NATHANIEL: Even when you're working that much?
VIKANDER: Yes! It's really something I've very humble about. It's difficult to say because I'm already so fortunate. But I was brought up in a small country and I never thought -- when I did a Danish film I thought that was my big international break. 'I went outside Sweden to make a film.' So, it's been beyond any kind of dream or belief. I'm really very happy.
You're from Sweden but two of your biggest thing have been Danish centered. This...
And A Royal Affair, yes.
The Scandinavian acting community -- do you feel any connection to them when you're working abroad. I know you've acted with Bill Skarsgård and Martin Wallström for instance.
Yeah! All the Skarsgård brothers, Rebecca Ferguson who i know; I was at a Christmas party when she was shooting Mission: Impossible and it's wonderful to see how things are just kicking off. I watched her career back in Sweden and she's a wonderful woman. Noomi Rapace is another one, the kind of pioneer for our time. In every industry the world has become global. Acting, too. Actors are very open to other cultures. In acting, it's the language barrier. It's still a second language but if you can overcome that, you can travel everywhere.
NATHANIEL: You can make Hollywood, British, and Scandinavian films! Now, with The Danish Girl I'd like to talk about your choice to play Gerda with such modernity. She doesn't feel "period" at all really; she barrels forward when she walks.
ALICIA VIKANDER: It's interesting what you consider being modern. I don't think people have changed so much; people are people. Society around us and the norms, of course, have changed. If you saw the photos of Gerda and Lili -- it's quite extraordinary to see. I mean they didn't have Instagram so they didn't take photos every day but for people of that time it's quite a lot of photographs. Apparently they liked to do that. [Enthusiastically imitates some poses] She slumps! It's Dresses! That's actually who they were. Denmark in the 1920s wasn't as forward pushing as Paris at the time, but she was ahead of her time. She was a very modern woman, a working woman. And Lili as Einar to be with a woman who was working was really quite radical.
One of the best scenes, midway through, is when you're telling Lili that this needs to stop, that you need Einar. And when you're looking as Gerda at Lili when you're drawing. So much is taking place within their flat -- it almost feels intrusive to watch, it's so intimate and marital. How did you and Eddie build that?
I thought it was such a key thing in Lucinda Cox's script. Gerda in one way is finding her voice as an artist in this film and it's something that she's been searching for. Subconciously it's Lili coming out of the painting. It's almost like, in her self, she has seen the true person who she loves. That becomes the truth. And I think that's reflective of anyone who finds the truth. That's when art starts to flourish and become something real and good.
It's an intimate ride and I couldn't have done that if I hadn't had someone like both Eddie and Tom [Director Tom Hooper] there who created a space that was very safe. Eddie is a wonderful man and easy to work with. He's become a good friend. He pushed me in new directions and I knew also that I had to give him challenges back. And that's how you get both connection and friction that makes a relationship interesting and alive.
One thing that's really interesting about your two big films right now, Ex Machina and The Danish Girl, in a way they are both about performing gender. Lili as Einar, of course, and Ava who is technically artificial.
Did you ever think about that?
[Pause] Nope.
[Laughter] You've worked with Domhnall Gleeson before but on Ex Machina was it an interesting challenge to be separated from him?
Her screen partner in both Anna Karenina (2012) and Ex Machina (2015)
ALICIA VIKANDER: It was very interesting! Actually I give a lot of kudos to our production designer. That's one of the best scripts I've ever read. It was so solid. There were not many stage directions but you knew they were in a space with the glass wall between them. All of us -- Oscar, Domhnall, Alex and everyone who read it -- we instantly see Ava, the research subject, as the monkey in the cage. He's there to go in and watch and test and analyze this robot. But when we got there the Production Designer had decided to make a small glass box where the interviewer goes in. Instead it's the subject who can walk around and look at the person interviewing. That really changed it a lot -- it changed the rules.
NATHANIEL: As an actor so much of your career is performing for the camera, and now you're a celebrity and everyone is watching you. So do you ever feel like that, like you're the one in the glass box?
Hmmm. To do all the interviews and meet people. Talking about the films -- that's my biggest passion in my life. Even though you're nervous it's exciting to release a film in to the world; everything that goes with that is wonderful. Having someone photograph you when you don't know is a different thing.
Not actually part of the job
No, no. It's like two different worlds.
Ex Machina, one of our best pictures of the year, is currently available on DVD and BluRay. The Danish Girl, nominated for four Oscars, including Alicia Vikander as Best Supporting Actress, is still playing in limited release.
Reader Comments (28)
Agh, she's so sincere and humble. I can't help but be happy for her future Oscar win. (Sorry Rooney fans.)
What a rude little entitled b*tch. Sure, she is gorgeous, can act to some extent and has a big dic*ed bf but she has the most forgettable face alongside Brie Larson. Plus, being a non-English native actor is a HUGE disadvantage unless you're an acting powerhouse like Marion Cotillard.
I give her a couple years in the industry before she's forgotten.
She ain't no Saoirse Ronan; a memorable face, fits in every hair color, can do ANY accent. = Blanchett/Streep perfection. Rooney Mara is arguably the better actor too and should be winning the Oscar but Rooney doesn't sell herself for an Oscar. Oscar curse, coming for Miss Vikander.
So glad she gave a shout out to the production design of Ex Machina ridiculously not nominated. I love when actors give shine to the other craftspeople who help shape a film.
@Selma - You don't need to insult one woman to praise another.
The first time I saw her face I was blown away by her beauty, and it happens every time. I still like her performance in A Royal Affair more than any other, but I haven't seen Testament of Youth or Man from U.N.C.L.E. yet.
Selma -- she didn't come across as entitled. she even stated how lucky she knew how fortunate she was.
Kieran -- agreed. I'm feeling bad i didn't nominate that film in my awards in that category
She's won me over. I particularly like how she admits to caring about winning awards and watching the live feed to see if she's nominated. It's authentic.
Feeling very unenthusiastic about seeing Danish Girl, and I wonder if it's as good as she was in the Royal Affair, which is probably still my favorite Vikander showcase - such a pity that most U.S. audiences will never see it. It's unbelievable how young she was in it, and yet how quietly powerful and convincing she was; as a monarch, as a sheltered girl marred by tragedy and heartbreak before her time, as a quasi-intellectual and a lover. She brought the kind of gravitas I expected from a leading actress and movie star 15 years older.
"Can't do accents"?? She's multi-lingual and has done movies in Danish, and Swedish, and nailed multiple types of English-language accents flawlessly to boot. Chill.
Selma- Frankly, the only one who sounds like a rude little entitled bitch is you.
She is a sweetheart for sure!
Nathaniel: when are you gonna do a Vanity Fair cover post?
Nat,why no review of The Danish Girl,you have now released 2 interviews with the stars and I have no idea how you feel about the film and performances,you need to remain objective if you don't like it let's hear it.
Nice interview.
Selma you're a bigger bitch than me. Thanks.
@ Selma - you seem to be the big bitch, I'm sorry but you come across as jealous, stupid and incredibly ignorant. You post the same posts on every possible website. Time to get a life my dear but oh I don't think you have one judging by your hated remarks.
Miss Vikander is a talented actress and like it or not, this is a fact. She will be bigger and bigger, so get used to that. If you don't like her, be it but stop spreading your jealousy, it is sickening.
Manuel -- looks like you missed it. it was here - covered it the day it was announced
She is just wonderful, in everything. She blew me away in A Royal Affair and I've watched everything she's done since. I still can't quite believe she's so close to winning an Oscar!
i'm having a hard time getting excited over Alicia Vikander winning an Oscar, because even though she's definitely the best thing about The Danish Girl, I strongly dislike The Danish Girl and don't really want it to have an Oscar attached to it (of course, this happens to films people dislike every year). I'm just going to pretend she's winning for Ex Machina (where I absolutely adored her). I guess it's also annoying me that The Danish Girl is kind of a big hit in Mexico, where I live, and people are responding to a film I find tacky in how tasteful it tries to be.
Great interview, Nat! Alicia is quite an interesting actress, since I'm never quite sure what to expect from her (she claims she has an unusual look for someone from Sweden). I need to re-watch A Royal Affair pronto...
She absolutely slayed it in Ex Machina.
She reached far emotionally in Danish Girl -- but that film has other problems and I think her performance thus felt limited by the film overall.
She seemed not-funny-enough and dwarfed by the costumes and visual style in Man from UNCLE.
So for me, the jury is still out. But I've been intrigued by her ever since Anna Karenina, when she took a small part and made it absolutely memorable.
Nice interview, thanks Nathaniel.
I think the most interesting thing about (the high probability of) Vikander winning the Oscar is an actor winning from each of the past three Tom Hooper films. It is forcing me to re-evaluate his talent (which is hard to do as I will basically never get over him winning an Oscar over the brilliance that was Fincher - seriously, it is already becoming another Kevin Costner over Martin Scorsese Oscar laughing point) as maybe an actor's director.
I really like her. It's kind of happening now that there are several young talented actresses gunning for long-term legend status? (Brie, Alicia, that other popular American girl?) I am grateful.
I'm so jealous that you got to interview Alicia Vikander, Nathaniel! I remember seeing her in A Royal Affair when it came out and thinking that this girl was going to be around for a while. She made my Best Actress lineup that year and now here she is on the verge of becoming an Oscar winner.
She is really a chameleon & versatile actress! Its sad that the Academy missed out a chance to recognize her as a Best Actress nominee. Sure, downgrading her to supp cat increased her chance of winning tremendously & she's currently poised to win. But years from now, its gonna look bad on the Academy.
I wish they had done the right tink & put her in correct cat. She wld still have a good chance of winning it from Larson or Ronan. Well, at least it will be a fair fight
I really wish Winslet will get her long o/due 2nd Oscar
Claran - Agreed ! - she didn't need the category fraud, she could have played fair.
And I wish Winslet did have a chance but her second will probably have to wait.
I say she has the brains, beauty, breeding and talent to become a legend. Love her. She was so incredible in Ex Machina. Allen, Scorsese, Spielberg, Aronofsky, Fincher, Coen & Coen please take notice.
Another overrated actress that everyone will forget about within two years or less, when the next young, cute, childish-looking actress shows up to replace her.
Harvey Weinstein was right about her future in Hollywood.
Harsh but I wonder if it's true in this climate of cartoon film/streaming. Will any other actress last more than 5 years?
No one cares about Felicia Vikander!
Nathaniel, report Saint Chastain's new movie deal. She's the real deal! She will win more Oscars than basic Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.
Love this woman! She's definitely here to stay--she's the real deal. What a historical year she's had. Her brilliance shines brightest in Ex Machina, which should have netted her a lead Oscar nomination. But her achievement in TDG is almost greater, since she gives us such real, searing emotion with everything stacked against her--Redmayne's cloying pandering, Hooper's stunted imagination, and an overall sense of ruthless, strangling tastefulness.
Can't wait to see what's next for this talented young star.
I'm so intrigued by her comment regarding the glass wall, and complicating who is watching who. I swear, everything I read about the thought behind Ex Machina makes me that much more fascinated by it.
Great interview! It's nice to read interviews where the questions/tone convey an actual admiration for the films.