The Oscar-winning actress speaks with Scott Feinberg on a special live episode of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast at Cannes, co-presented by THR and Campari.
MAY 20 | THR AWARDS CHATTER LIVE WITH ALICIA VIKANDER IN CANNES, FRANCE | ARRIVALS MAY 20 | THR AWARDS CHATTER LIVE WITH ALICIA VIKANDER IN CANNES, FRANCE | SHOW
EXCLUSIVE: We told you about Ron Howard’s survival thriller Origin of Species last fall and the project now has a killer cast with Oscar nominee Ana De Armas (No Time To Die), Oscar nominee Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes) and Golden Globe nominee Daniel Brühl (All Quiet On The Western Front) attached and Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) in talks to join.
Howard’s Imagine Entertainment are behind the buzz project with CAA Media Finance and Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, the latter which is newly aboard to finance and will be selling at the upcoming Cannes market.
Shoot is being lined up for Q4, 2023, in Queensland, Australia. Script comes from Noah Pink (Tetris).
Based on two different accounts of the same true story, the film is being described as an “a darkly comic tale of murder and survival, set around a group of eclectic characters who abandon civilization for the Galapagos. They are all searching for the answer to that ever-pressing question that plagues us all: what is the meaning of life.”
This is the latest big package to hit the Cannes market, which despite the strike is looking like a trove of opportunity for buyers. Those with scripts further along — and the completed films in the festival —could be even more desirable with holes opening up in schedules due to the strike delaying some projects.
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a first look at Alicia Vikander’s turn as Katherine Parr in the Cannes-bound Firebrand.
Gabrielle Tana’s Brouhaha Entertainment has released the first-look photo of the Ex Machina star in costume for Brazilian helmer Karim Ainouz’s first English-language film. See it below.
Alicia Vikander plays opposite Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Captain Marvel), who plays a scheming Henry VIII. Our exclusive photo shows Vikander with the ladies of her bedchamber, who are played by Ruby Bentall (Poldark), Bryony Hannah (Call The Midwife) and Maia Jemmett.
A screening date hasn’t been officially set yet but it’s strongly rumoured that Firebrand will premiere at the Palais des Festivals on Sunday, May 21. FilmNation will be shopping on the Croisette.
Both Tana (Philomena, The Dig, The Invisible Woman) and Ainouz (The Invisible Life of Eurydice Gusmao, Love for Sale, Futuro Beach) describe Firebrand as a “psychological thriller” that explores how Katherine, the last of Henry’s six wives, endured her union with the monstrous monarch and kept her head in the 16th Century.
The movie, filmed on location in the Derbyshire region of the UK’s Peak District, is based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s gripping, bestselling historical novel Queen’s Gambit, about how Katherine strategized to survive.
However, the title was changed to Firebrand to avoid confusion with popular Netflix drama The Queen’s Gambit, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a chess master.
Tana said Firebrand is not a “romanticized’ film about a royal marriage. “Henry’s a butcher,” she added. “It was a rotten marriage. There’s usually pomp and circumstance [in royal couplings] but that’s not really what was there. It was much more visceral, and that’s what we’re getting to the heart of.”
There will be some surprises in the film, she added, because “history is open for lots of different interpretation.”
Last month, Alicia Vikander attended the Louis Vuitton Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Orsay Museum in Paris, France. Check out photos below:
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) and Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave) have been set for key roles in feature Hope, the first project from acclaimed Korean director Na Hong-Jin since 2016 hit The Wailing.
The largely Korean-language film will follow the residents of Hopo Port, where a mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. Before long, the residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before.
Additional casting and pre-production is underway for a shoot later this year in Korea. We understand husband and wife Fassbender and Vikander will speak English in the film and wanted to take part after being impressed by the director’s previous work. It will mark the second time they’ve appeared together in the same film after The Light Between Oceans.
Hope sounds like it will be cut from similar cloth to the filmmaker’s previous films, all of which have been box office hits. 2016 thriller The Wailing played at Cannes before making $50M globally off an estimated $6M budget. That film charted how a mysterious sickness starts spreading after a stranger arrives in a village. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Hope will be produced under Na’s production banner Forged Films. Plus M is handling international sales and UTA Independent Film Group and Plus M are handling North America. The Korean firm is already eyeing additional IP opportunities for the project.
The director said today: “Oftentimes, a person’s goodwill can lead to unintended catastrophe simply because of differences in perspective. My hope for this film is to cinematically capture that phenomenon in a way that has yet to be seen.“
Upcoming, Ex Machina and Tomb Raider star Vikander will star as Katherine Parr opposite Jude Law as Henry VIII in Karim Ainouz’s feature, Firebrand.
Vikander is represented by UTA, Tavistock Wood, Tapestry.
Alicia Vikander is featured on March issue of W Magazine Korea Volume 3. Check out photos below:
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