Swedish actress Alicia Vikander’s rapid ascension happened nearly under the radar. She left her native Sweden a few years ago for turns in Anna Karenina, A Royal Affair, and The Fifth Estate. She’ll soon appear in The Danish Girl and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. remake. Vikander recently told W magazine that she hopes to support three films at the Oscars next year. And this year’s Ex Machina put her firmly in the view of sci-fi fans everywhere.
Vikander could boost her resume further with two rumored roles: Deadline reports that she’s lining up for the latest Jason Bourne sequel, as well as the Assassin’s Creed video game adaptation, provided the scheduling allows. Regardless, Vikander will likely drop out of her starring role in The Circle, the Tom Hanks vehicle that was one of the hottest properties at this year’s Cannes festival. Vikander hasn’t officially dropped out yet, but producers have reportedly extended an offer to Emma Watson.
Vikander may be hedging her bets. Hanks is no longer a guarantee at the box office, and the lead female role (“a young employee at a tech company called The Circle, who gets involved with a mysterious man”) doesn’t sound as thrilling as secret societies and violent deaths. Video game movies either sink or swim, so this could be a risky move. The project would reunite her with Michael Fassbender, with whom she starred in 2015’s The Light Between Oceans. (Although these two have been dating for months, so the idea of a reunion is only in name.)
Fassbender will executive produce Assassin’s Creed, in which he co-stars along with Marion Cotillard (after their joint turn in Macbeth). If all goes well, the video game movie should arrive on Dec. 21, 2016. Such a release date proves studio confidence in an unseasoned franchise. Although 91 million units of the video game can’t be wrong, right?
(via Deadline, Indiewire and W magazine)
