Vikander on Henry VIII Film ‘Firebrand’ and Being “Huge Jason Bourne Fan”
Law’s Way Of Getting Into Character As Henry VIII Was ‘Just Horrible’, Director Reveals
The British actor wanted to get fully into character playing Henry VIII in a new film about the monarch’s relationship with Catherine Parr, the last of his six wives.
“When Jude walked in on set it was just horrible,” admitted Firebrand director Karim Aïnouz.
He apparently recruited a perfumer to recreate the monarch’s pungent smell. “I read several interesting accounts that as this period you could smell Henry three rooms away. His leg was rotting so badly. He hid it with rose oil,” Jude told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
The perfumer “somehow managed to came up with this extraordinary variety which was puss, blood, fecal matter and sweat,” Jude recalled.
At first, Jude said he used the scent “very subtly,” but then it “became a spray-fest” as he thoroughly doused himself in the stench before shooting.
Alicia Vikander
Vikander’s big break in her native Sweden came with 2010’s Pure. She then turned heads in the 2012 Danish film A Royal Affair, co-starring with Mads Mikkelsen, but it was her role in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina that gained her notoriety in the U.S. “Everything that needs to be there, is there and nothing else. A lot of it you had to understand by reading the action and understanding what is happening in the scene emotionally,” she said of the Garland- written screenplay. For the self-tape audition for the film, she remembers pulling her hair back in a tight bun and putting “a full bottle” of sunscreen on her face in order to gain the shiny appearance of the robot, Ava, she would eventually play.
After The Danish Girl, Vikander appeared onscreen with her now husband Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans. She said, “He’s my husband and best friend but I also consider him one of the greatest actors of his generation.”
In between indies and awards season features, Vikander has also had her turn in the occasional blockbuster, including Paul Greengrass’ Jason Bourne, in which she starred opposite Matt Damon. She says she took the role because “I was a huge Jason Bourne fan,” adding, “It’s funny going to work when you are the fan.”
Vikander also played Lara Croft in the latest attempt at a Tomb Raider movie, taking the role having played the computer game as a kid.
Vikander did a historical deep dive on Parr, noting that she has received less attention in history than the to the ill-fated first wives of Henry VIII. “No one really cared that she was the first woman in British history that published books under her own name,” said Vikander. Adding that she was “managing this danger and person next to [her] all the time. To survive that, you have to be very delicate and clever.”
In recounting her career, Vikander also spoke about the night of the Academy Awards at which she earned the Oscar for The Danish Girl. Vikander’s date that evening was her mother, who recently passed away. “Over the past few months, I have had tons of family and friends sharing photos,” she said, tearing up. “One of the most shared photos (was) of my mom and me that night.”
The British actor wanted to get fully into character playing Henry VIII in a new film about the monarch’s relationship with Catherine Parr, the last of his six wives.
So, he apparently recruited a perfumer to recreate the monarch’s pungent smell.
“I read several interesting accounts that as this period you could smell Henry three rooms away. His leg was rotting so badly. He hid it with rose oil,” Jude told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
The perfumer “came up with this extraordinary variety which was puss, blood, fecal matter and sweat,” Jude recalled.
At first, Jude said he used the scent “very subtly”.
But then it “became a spray-fest” as he thoroughly doused himself in the stench before filming.
“When Jude walked in on set it was just horrible,” admitted Firebrand director Karim Aïnouz.
Law’s Way Of Getting Into Character As Henry VIII Was ‘Just Horrible’, Director Reveals
