Oscar winner Alicia Vikander just added a new hyphen to her considerable list of talents: that of producer. The 27-year-old Swedish actress has launched her own production banner Vikarious Productions along with her London-based agent Charles Collier of Tavistock Wood. The company has set its first feature, Euphoria, with Vikander also set to star alongside Eva Green as sisters in conflict traveling through Europe towards a mystery destination. The project marks the English-language directorial debut of award-winning Swedish writer/director Lisa Langseth, who previously collaborated with Vikander on two Swedish-language pics, Pure and Hotell. Euphoria is a production with Sweden’s B-Reel Films’ Patrik Anderson and Frida Bargo, and starts shooting in the German Alps in early August.

“Euphoria is Lisa’s third film as writer and director. I have worked with her on each of them and I jumped at the chance to do so again,” said Vikander. “It’s a uniquely European approach, enabling me to work with a great Swedish team alongside my colleagues in London. It is a profound story about the journey of two estranged sisters, full of suffering but also full of joy, and squaring up to very important subject matter. It also has compelling female voices and is packed to the rafters with female talent both sides of the camera. All these ingredients made this film the obvious choice for our first film at Vikarious. Charles and I will be developing more films in this space over the next 24 months.”

The news further cements Vikander’s stratospheric rise and is testament to her formidable drive and ambition. Last week, she was confirmed as Lara Croft for MGM, Warner Bros and GK Films in Tomb Raider. The reboot will tell the story of a young and untested Lara Croft fighting to survive her first adventure. Roar Uthaug (The Wave) is directing. MGM and Warner Bros are co-producing the film with MGM overseeing production. They acquired film rights from GK Films, which had previously purchased film rights in 2011 from Square Enix LTD. Graham King is serving as producer.

The Tomb Raider deal marked the latest plum role for Vikander, and arguably her highest-profile one yet. She next co-stars in Jason Bourne opposite Matt Damon. Her success has continued to rise following a banner 2015 that saw her performance in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl win an Academy Award for best supporting actress as well as a memorable turn in Ex Machina as possibly the best-looking and ruthless robot in the history of cinema. She also has The Light Between Oceans opposite Michael Fassbender in the pipelines. That film has been generating awards-season buzz even though it will not be released before the end of the year.

“It is a great pleasure to be partnering with Alicia Vikander at Vikarious,” said Collier. “It is the natural extension of our long professional collaboration. Together we have always sought opportunities that explored issues and characters that are important to both of us. We have become well-attuned to what material excites and inspires us both. In particular, with Euphoria, we hope to make good on our intention of bringing together a team of brilliant women to lead the creative process. We are in active discussions already on a number of other projects and have been most grateful for the industry support and encouragement we have been receiving. In recent years audiences have come to know Alicia’s performances for their extraordinary emotional nuance, profound sense of understanding, range of light and shade, and reservoirs of compassion. She brings to our work with Vikarious all of these talents together with her exceptional brain for business and for production.”

The company plans to produce a further two titles at a similar budget to Euphoria within the next two years. The film is a Swedish/UK/Germany production by B-Reel Films, Vikarious Productions, Dancing Camel (Christine Ruppert), Sveriges Television, Svensk Filmindustri, Reel Ventures and Filmregionen Stockholm-Mälardalen. It will be produced in collaboration with Wild Bunch Germany, in association with Dorian Media Limited and with support from the Swedish Film Institute. Svensk Filmindustri will handle Nordic distribution.

Director Langseth added: “This story and these characters have been a part of me for a long time now and it is wonderful to see it all come to life.”

“It is such a privilege to be able to continue our collaboration with Swedish auteur Lisa Langseth and together take this huge step into an international film production,”said B-Reel Films producers Patrik Anderson and Frida Bargo. “The artistic collaboration with Alicia Vikander is invaluable in all aspects in order to let Lisa paint on an even bigger canvas.”

Vikander and Green are both repped by Tavistock Wood in the UK. Vikander is also repped by UTA and Actors in Scandinavia. Green is also repped by UTA and Agence Adequat. [Source]