Oscar-winning star Alicia Vikander will keep her head when she portrays the last of Henry VIII’s six wives in a new film about the perils of being wed to the much-married monarch. Vikander will share the screen, and the throne, with Jude Law as the King.

Producer Gabrielle Tana told me last night that she’s thrilled to have signed Vikander to play Katherine Parr in the psychological thriller Firebrand, based on Elizabeth Freemantle’s best-selling historical novel Queen’s Gambit. ‘You can see why we’re not able to use that title’, Tana joked, alluding to the Netflix phenomenon The Queen’s Gambit, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy.

Firebrand is basically ‘a portrait of a marriage, and of survival’, the film-creative explained. The vivacious Parr was a noted scholar and author, and already twice widowed when she met Henry. However, she was a good choice for the tyrannical ruler who, by this point in 1543, was ailing and as much in need of a nurse as a wife. He’d already beheaded two of his queens, cast aside two more, and watched one die in childbirth. ‘She’s smart, and she outwits the king’, Tana observed of Parr. Not an easy task, given there were dangers lurking in every corner of Henry’s court.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

Alicia Vikander is partnering with Göteborg Film Festival to launch an educational film program for young people in Sweden. The Alicia Vikander Film Lab aims to give young people the tools to express themselves through filmmaking, and to increase diversity in the film industry. Vikander has helped to design the project and each year will join a workshop with the students. The actress announced the initiative while being appointed an honorary fellow by the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture. She is donating the prize money from that award to the lab, as well as making a private donation. “I am so honored to receive the Stena Foundation fellowship. Having the chance to collaborate with Göteborg Film Festival on the Film Lab, to inspire young people and create opportunity for them to explore the world of film is something I am hugely excited about”, Alicia Vikander said.

Source : deadline.com