An enforced pause meant that the globe-hopping, high-achieving Alicia Vikander had the chance to stop and reflect. Now she’s back at work, it’s not all business as usual…

‘I’M IN A GARAGE!’ cries Oscar-winning actor Alicia Vikander. She picks up her laptop and twirls me around on Zoom to prove it. Indeed, she is surrounded by grey concrete pillars and industrial strip lighting in, what I can gather, is a subterranean garage somewhere in Paris. And then she’s back, the camera on her dainty figure with hair scraped back into a ballerina’s bun, revealing tiny white ear buds that wouldn’t have looked out of place on her character Ava, the AI robot she played in Ex Machina.

It’s not her garage. She’s on set for the ELLE cover shoot, but Vikander is perfectly happy with the set-up. After all, she says, this is her first day back at work after several months.

As coronavirus shuttered the world, Vikander was stuck in France where she’d attended Paris Fashion Week, sitting front row at Louis Vuitton – a brand she’s been an ambassador of for five years. With European borders rapidly closing, she escaped the capital city to her holiday house near a small farming village in rural France, where she spent most of lockdown holed up with her husband, the actor Michael Fassbender.

The Zoom calls she took there, for work and to catch up with family, had a slightly more homely background than the one she’s framed by now, with a bookshelf and a window looking out onto greenery. I ask whether there was ever, you know, any risk of Fassbender walking past the window unsuspectingly while she was on a call. It’s not happened thus far… ‘But that’s the thing when you’re in your house,’ she laughs. ‘There’s always a risk of someone in the background. My husband was often around making coffee or putting the boiler on,’ she says, giving a rare domestic insight into the life of one of Hollywood’s starriest, but famously private, couples.

However cosy the set up in France sounds – and it does sound idyllic, with trips to the market, grilled fish cooked on the BBQ, impromptu dancing in the kitchen and virtual poker nights with her family – her enthusiasm for being back at work is palpable.

Former ballerina Alicia Vikander has deemed the focus put on dancers’ bodies “unhealthy”.

The Oscar winner studied ballet before finding fame as an actress, and has spoken about her experiences in a new chat with Elle U.K. magazine.

“Being in a leotard looking at your body in a mirror seven hours a day, six days a week and having people talk about your body in front of you and in front of other girls and boys… Growing up with that is not healthy,” she said.

“I was very lucky to go through ballet school without having an eating disorder. I don’t know how,” Alicia explained, noting that it was her mother who spoke to her every day about the dangers of a negative body image.

However, when the Swedish star stopped dancing, she struggled to accept her changing body.

“But when I stopped ballet, I continued to eat a lot and – it’s stupid because I was really thin when I was dancing – but I gained two or three kilos and I freaked out when I saw a photo (of myself) because my body had changed,” the 31-year-old shared.

“Like so many other girls I was like, I shouldn’t eat carbs. That was the first thing I heard about, so I stopped eating bread.”

It was only after landing the role of Lara Croft in 2018’s Tomb Raider, where she was required to train from 4am daily and gained around 5kg of muscle, that The Danish Girl actress realised the importance of diet and exercise.

“I’ve often thought to myself, if I were to have a kid, would I put them in ballet school? I do really treasure a lot of my work ethic and things that I got from that education, but it either makes you or breaks you,” she mused. “And it could have as easily have gone the other way (for me).” [Source]

After initially planning a theatrical release in the fall, the Gloria Steinem biopic The Glorias, starring Oscar winners Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander, will be released on Prime Video September 30. Tony winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King) directs and co-writes the screenplay with two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House).

Joining Moore and Vikander as Steinem in various stages of the political activist’s life are Lulu Wilson and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. The movie features a number of stage and film stars as Steinem’s contemporaries, including Tony winner Bette Midler as Bella Abzug, Janelle Monáe as Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Lorraine Toussaint as Flo Kennedy, Monica Sanchez as Dolores Huerta, and Kimberly Guerrero as Wilma Mankiller.

Deadline reports the film will be available to watch exclusively in the U.S. and Canada on the streaming service, with The Glorias also available as a one-time purchase through video on demand platforms.

The film, inspired by Steinem’s memoir My Life on the Road, premiered earlier this year at Sundance and was picked up by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment.

This isn’t the first time Steinem’s life has been explored in art. The stage play Gloria: A Life by Emily Mann debuted Off-Broadway in 2018, starring Christine Lahti as the feminist leader, before regional productions in New Jersey and Massachusetts took the show on the road. [Source]

Feel the current pulsing through your quarantine-toned limbs with the new LV Volt collection. Styled by Carine Roitfeld and photographed by Flaunt alum and legendary, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the new collection asks you to play something of a contemporary Black Lightning meets femme fatale. The power is in you!

The collection features 36 unisex pieces that commemorate the iconic L and V. The campaign features Alicia Vikander, Hugo Marchand, Sharon Alexie and XiaoXing Mao and will be widely seen in September. [Source]

Emma Stone, Léa Seydoux, and Alicia Vikander return in the latest campaign for the New Classics, Louis Vuitton’s iconic collection of modern leather goods. Known for their grace and strength, the three acclaimed actresses and Louis Vuitton ambassadors each chose a bag to showcase their inner spirits in the new campaign shot by Craig McDean: the classic Capucines for Emma Stone, the bold Twist for Alicia Vikander, and stylish Dauphine for Léa Seydoux.

Focus Features picked up the worldwide rights to Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou” from MACRO and Entertainment One. The studio acquired the rights during this year’s Cannes’ virtual market, but did not announce a release window at this time. Chon wrote and directed the film, which he stars in alongside Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, Mark O’Brien, Linh Dan Pham, and Emory Cohen.

The studio’s description reads, “Blue Bayou tells the heartbreaking story of Antonio LeBlanc, a Korean adoptee raised in the United States who is forced to confront his distant past and what it means for his own future and his family’s when he unexpectedly faces deportation.”

“Justin’s ability to open our eyes to new perspectives by celebrating our shared humanity is more vital now than ever before. We’re so proud to help bring his voice to the world and to reunite with Alicia along with the brilliant teams at eOne and MACRO,” said Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski.

MACRO and eOne financed the project, with Chon, Charles D. King, Poppy Hanks, and Kim Roth producing. The executive producers are Clara Wu, Nick Meyer, Zev Foreman, and Eddie Rubin. Greta Fuentes and Yira Vilaro are also co-producers. The film will be distributed by Focus Features in the United States, with Universal Pictures International distributing in other markets.

Sierra/Affinity, the wholly owned subsidiary of eOne, represented the international sales of the film, with UTA and WME facilitating the domestic sale.

Alicia Vikander also stars in “The Green Knight,” from A24. That project was slated to release last May, but was delayed because of the ongoing health crisis. David Lowery wrote and directed the film, which features Dev Patel, Vikander, Joel Edgerton, and Sean Harris.

The description for “The Green Knight” adds, “An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger.” [Source]

Hello!

I have added some photos of Alicia Vikander from 2018 that were missing. You can go to the gallery to take a look.

Hello! Thanks to Anne, I got some old magazine scans of Alicia Vikander to share with you all.

Also, I updated the magazine donations page. If you have some scans and want to share, please, feel free to contact me.

I have added some old movie stills of Alicia Vikander to the gallery. More are coming soon!

Hello! First, I hope you are all safe.

I was working with the site and I have added and updated some new sections here. So, please, go to take a look and enjoy!

More stuff is coming but if you have suggestions or whatever, please, feel free to contact me.

This is the list of new pages added or updates:
— Donate
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— Magazine Donations

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Nicky