Cannes 2023: Alicia Vikander on taking part in Catherine Parr in Henry VIII drama ‘Firebrand’

Through Related Press

CANNES — It is widely recognized that Henry VIII, the Tudor king, had a in particular grim batting reasonable when it got here to matrimony.

His litany of other halves, after all, is the topic of the present Broadway display, “Six,” and plenty of different productions. The other halves’ succession of fates — two beheadings and 3 different deaths — has lengthy loomed within the historic creativeness.

The brand new movie “Firebrand,” which premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Movie Competition, takes a special solution to a much-dramatized bankruptcy of Sixteenth-century British historical past. The movie, directed via the Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the 6th spouse of Henry and the one one to survive him.

“Catherine Parr, out of the entire six other halves I more than likely knew the least of,” Vikander stated in an interview on a Cannes resort terrace. “And it appeared like that was once the overall really feel from everyone that I talked to. The only lady who survived was once the least fascinating to learn about.”

“Firebrand,” tailored from Elizabeth Freemantle’s novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” has all of the accoutrement of a lush duration drama (Jude Legislation grandly co-stars as Henry), however it is animated via a twist in viewpoint and a feminist spirit. “Historical past tells us a couple of issues, most commonly about males and struggle,” a name card pronounces on the film’s starting.

The movie follows Parr as she negotiates a rough, abusive husband whilst seeking to have some function in shaping nationwide affairs. She’s pals with the debatable Protestant preacher Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a dating that poses grave threat to Parr if discovered. In the meantime, some participants of the king’s courtroom, together with the bishop Stephen Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), conspire to have Parr apply within the footsteps of Henry’s prior other halves.

For Vikander, the preternaturally poised 34-year-old Swedish actor, investigating Parr was once stuffed with discovery. Parr penned a number of books in her lifestyles and spoke brazenly about Protestantism, the Reformation and then-controversial English translations of the Bible. That ended in accusations of heresy and extending mistrust from Henry.

“The primary Wikipedia seek I did when I used to be despatched the script, I noticed that she was once the primary queen who’s ever been revealed below her personal title in British historical past,” stated Vikander. “I believed: That’s actually an enormous feat to do this with the type of perspectives that she’s tackling while being married to a person recognized to be essentially the most terrifying and threatening guy with somewhat other ideals.”

“I believed: When did I learn a textual content that’s older than 100 years from a lady?” added Vikander.

Alicia Vikander, left, and Jude Legislation on the 76th global movie pageant, Cannes, southern France (Photograph | AP)

Vikander has frequently been at house in dress dramas. She starred in “A Royal Affair” and “Anna Karenina” ahead of profitable an Oscar for her efficiency in 2015’s “The Danish Lady.” However a few of her perfect performances — the robotic android of “Ex Machina,” the miniseries “Irma Vep” — were extra recent.

“Firebrand,” which does not but have a unlock date, speaks to each previous and provide. To stretch the purpose, the movie in the long run depends on some speculative fiction to consider what would possibly have took place at the back of closed doorways.

“Jude and I stated even though we sat with 20 historical past books in entrance folks, all of them have the similar pillars of issues and feature alternative ways of decoding what’s in between,” says Vikander. “That’s what we had been doing, too, with inventive possible choices we made.”

Shot on location at Haddon Corridor, Vikander and Legislation had dressing rooms within the fortress cellar. The garments, too, had been transportive.

“Between takes sitting with the opposite girls, in the ones costumes you don’t sit down up directly. We had been all mendacity at the flooring in the ones corsets,” stated Vikander. “It gave me an actual symbol. That is what it was once like.”

CANNES — It is widely recognized that Henry VIII, the Tudor king, had a in particular grim batting reasonable when it got here to matrimony.

His litany of other halves, after all, is the topic of the present Broadway display, “Six,” and plenty of different productions. The other halves’ succession of fates — two beheadings and 3 different deaths — has lengthy loomed within the historic creativeness.

The brand new movie “Firebrand,” which premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Movie Competition, takes a special solution to a much-dramatized bankruptcy of Sixteenth-century British historical past. The movie, directed via the Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the 6th spouse of Henry and the one one to survive him.googletag.cmd.push(serve as() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

“Catherine Parr, out of the entire six other halves I more than likely knew the least of,” Vikander stated in an interview on a Cannes resort terrace. “And it appeared like that was once the overall really feel from everyone that I talked to. The only lady who survived was once the least fascinating to learn about.”

“Firebrand,” tailored from Elizabeth Freemantle’s novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” has all of the accoutrement of a lush duration drama (Jude Legislation grandly co-stars as Henry), however it is animated via a twist in viewpoint and a feminist spirit. “Historical past tells us a couple of issues, most commonly about males and struggle,” a name card pronounces on the film’s starting.

The movie follows Parr as she negotiates a rough, abusive husband whilst seeking to have some function in shaping nationwide affairs. She’s pals with the debatable Protestant preacher Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a dating that poses grave threat to Parr if discovered. In the meantime, some participants of the king’s courtroom, together with the bishop Stephen Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), conspire to have Parr apply within the footsteps of Henry’s prior other halves.

For Vikander, the preternaturally poised 34-year-old Swedish actor, investigating Parr was once stuffed with discovery. Parr penned a number of books in her lifestyles and spoke brazenly about Protestantism, the Reformation and then-controversial English translations of the Bible. That ended in accusations of heresy and extending mistrust from Henry.

“The primary Wikipedia seek I did when I used to be despatched the script, I noticed that she was once the primary queen who’s ever been revealed below her personal title in British historical past,” stated Vikander. “I believed: That’s actually an enormous feat to do this with the type of perspectives that she’s tackling while being married to a person recognized to be essentially the most terrifying and threatening guy with somewhat other ideals.”

“I believed: When did I learn a textual content that’s older than 100 years from a lady?” added Vikander.

Alicia Vikander, left, and Jude Legislation on the 76th global movie pageant, Cannes, southern France (Photograph | AP)

Vikander has frequently been at house in dress dramas. She starred in “A Royal Affair” and “Anna Karenina” ahead of profitable an Oscar for her efficiency in 2015’s “The Danish Lady.” However a few of her perfect performances — the robotic android of “Ex Machina,” the miniseries “Irma Vep” — were extra recent.

“Firebrand,” which does not but have a unlock date, speaks to each previous and provide. To stretch the purpose, the movie in the long run depends on some speculative fiction to consider what would possibly have took place at the back of closed doorways.

“Jude and I stated even though we sat with 20 historical past books in entrance folks, all of them have the similar pillars of issues and feature alternative ways of decoding what’s in between,” says Vikander. “That’s what we had been doing, too, with inventive possible choices we made.”

Shot on location at Haddon Corridor, Vikander and Legislation had dressing rooms within the fortress cellar. The garments, too, had been transportive.

“Between takes sitting with the opposite girls, in the ones costumes you don’t sit down up directly. We had been all mendacity at the flooring in the ones corsets,” stated Vikander. “It gave me an actual symbol. That is what it was once like.”