She surprisingly combines external northern restraint and powerful temperament. Swedish-born Alicia Vikander is already ranked among her legendary compatriots who conquered Hollywood and the whole world: Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman. On account of her already about thirty works, including central roles in the most notable releases of recent years: Kitty in the film adaptation of "Anna Karenina" by Joe Wright; the glamorous German auto mechanic in Guy Ritchie's sleek and stylish spy comedy Agents of ANCL; humanoid robot Ava in Alex Garland's futuristic drama Ex Machina. This year, Alicia Vikander won her first Oscar for her role in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, in which she plays the artist Gerda Wegener, whose husband decides to undergo the world's first gender reassignment surgery. In early September, two new films with her participation will be released in Russia: the third part of the successful franchise by Paul Greengrass "Jason Bourne" and the more chamber and dramatic "Light in the Ocean". Strong, self-sufficient, intelligent, optimistic, Vikander is sensitive to his space, delicately avoiding questions about his personal life, including his recent break with Michael Fassbender. She is certainly beautiful and incredibly sexy, but she never agrees to roles that would boil down to the exploitation of her appearance. On the contrary, she does everything to prove with her work: a woman is not an accessory or an attachment to a man. Vikander is sensitive to his space, delicately avoiding questions about his personal life, including his recent breakup with Michael Fassbender. She is certainly beautiful and incredibly sexy, but she never agrees to roles that would boil down to the exploitation of her appearance. On the contrary, she does everything to prove with her work: a woman is not an accessory or an attachment to a man. Vikander is sensitive to his space, delicately avoiding questions about his personal life, including his recent breakup with Michael Fassbender. She is certainly beautiful and incredibly sexy, but she never agrees to roles that would boil down to the exploitation of her appearance. On the contrary, she does everything to prove with her work: a woman is not an accessory or an attachment to a man.
MC: Nicolas Ghesquière says that he admires you, your ability to constantly develop, without giving up your own beliefs. What does he mean?
Alicia Vikander: In films, every time I choose completely different roles from each other for fear of getting stuck in a convenient, effortless routine, exploiting the same techniques. I resist it as best I can.
MS: The same Ghesquière chose you as the face of Louis Vuitton. What does this new role give you as an actress?
AV: A lot. A few years ago, in Cannes, I first wore a haute couture dress by Nicolas, it was a real work of art. The most remarkable thing about Ghesquière is that in his works he creates, on the one hand, a generalized female image and at the same time endows him with absolutely specific features of strong women. I mean, first of all, those who from time to time appear as his models on the catwalk, be it Michelle Williams, Jennifer Connelly or Charlotte Gainsbourg, whom I have admired since childhood. Well, to be the face of Louis Vuitton obliges - I constantly discover something new in fashion.
MS: Aren't you afraid that the image of a fashion icon will harm your acting career?
AV: Absolutely not. I do not consider myself a model, first of all I am an actress who is also the face of the brand. At the same time, fashion helps me to develop in the profession, so in my life I try to connect these two worlds as closely as possible.
MS: I must say, little is known about you. Avoiding publicity?
AV: I try to avoid social networks. By the way, many of the actresses that I admire are just those about whom little is known.
MS: You are very private about your personal life …
AV: This is not entirely true. I willingly talk about my parents, for example. The rest - yes, I prefer to be silent. This is not closedness, there are simply things in life that you do not want to bring to the public. Love is personal.
MS: You had a relationship with Michael Fassbender, your co-star in Light in the Ocean. Is it more difficult to live with an actor than with a person of another profession?
AV: In everything that concerns personal relationships - be it a family or a man - it became much more difficult for me from the moment I decided to become an actress. I am rarely at home, my colleagues, of course, are sympathetic to this, as, indeed, are my friends and relatives.
MS: In Light in the Ocean, you play a young woman who decides to raise a baby rescued at sea as her own, hiding it from her surviving mother
Alicia Vikander: This is a very strong story that immediately caught my eye: it is about ordinary and generally good people who, under certain circumstances, turn out to be capable of terrible actions. However, not everything is clear, there are no right and wrong.
MS: Really? Do you understand your heroine, who decides to take such extreme actions, because she herself cannot become a mother?
AV: It is interesting that my acquaintances were divided into two opposite camps. Some understand it, others condemn it. I can understand: having lost two babies in childbirth, she gives new life to the saved child.
MS: Regarding your work at Jason Bourne, don't you think you should have insisted on expanding and deepening that role?
AV: No, already at the script level I saw that this is a strong, intelligent and self-sufficient heroine who does not allow Bourne - an outstanding personality in all respects - to suppress her. Moreover, Paul Greengrass is a filmmaker who never uses female imagery solely as a beautiful picture without content. Therefore, I took part in this film with great pleasure.
MS: Is it true that you let your parents read every script you are offered?
AV: Well, not all, but I always consult before making a final decision. For me, this is also a way to keep in touch, since my acting career began quite early and I have not lived with them for a very long time (the actress's parents divorced when Alicia was a child - approx. MS). But we often talk on the phone. I miss them as much as they miss me.
MS: Do you feel, like many actresses, the manifestations of sexism in Hollywood?
AV: Directly, perhaps not, I was personally lucky in this sense. But indirectly, sexism is felt - there are many fewer interesting female roles in the scripts that I receive than male ones. Quite often I am offered stereotypical roles, they, in fact, are a reflection of exclusively male ideas. And those that might be interesting lack the roughness and depth that make up a woman's nature.
MS: Is that why you started your own film company?
Partly yes. I am constantly fighting for complex and contradictory roles that, through women's stories, show how important it is to assert gender equality in society. To be fair, the situation in Hollywood is gradually changing: more and more scenarios with central female characters appear.
MS: You were born in a country where equality between men and women is not just words. What kind of environment did you grow up in?
Alicia Vikander: I went to a school where mostly girls studied, so, of course, there could not be gender discrimination in principle. It's good to be a girl in Sweden. From an early age, inspiring examples for me were a variety of men and women, from whom I learned to defend my opinion, to be strong and independent. Among them are my mother, brothers, and friends - all of them have always stood for equality.
MS: Has anything changed in you after the first Oscar?
AV: I think not. But I will never forget this moment. As a child, I remember my mother woke me up at two in the morning to watch a live broadcast of the ceremony. For me it was like a window to another, unattainable world. And when my parents and I walked the red carpet, we pinched ourselves to make sure it was not a dream. I kept repeating to myself: "Lord, am I really here?"
MS: You have a clear talent for languages - fluent in English, quickly mastered Danish when it was needed for the role. How does it come so easy for you?
AV: English and Danish are close languages, like Norwegian and Swedish. But, I confess, on the set of "The Royal Affair" I was terribly nervous: the fear of making a mistake in Danish prevented me from concentrating on the role. Fortunately, Mads (Mikkelsen, film partner - approx. MC) helped me a lot. He himself used to play non-native French and German. And every time shooting began, he would take me by the shoulder and say: “I know how it feels, I would not want to be in your place now. But don't worry, everything will be fine."
MS: And in French - will you give interviews soon?
AV: I'm trying to speak French with the team of Nicolas (Ghesquière - approx. MC), but they only laugh at me! And I am very afraid to be funny, but I understand more and more. I love this language and Paris, I have many friends there,
Photo source: Getty Images
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