Cannes 2023: Alicia Vikander on having fun with Catherine Parr in Henry VIII drama ‘Firebrand’

By Associated Press

CANNES — It’s broadly acknowledged that Henry VIII, the Tudor king, had a really grim batting widespread when it bought right here to matrimony.

His litany of wives, in spite of everything, is the subject of the current Broadway current, “Six,” and loads of completely different productions. The wives’ succession of fates — two beheadings and three completely different deaths — has prolonged loomed inside the historic creativeness.

The new film “Firebrand,” which premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, takes a particular technique to a much-dramatized chapter of Sixteenth-century British historic previous. The film, directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the sixth partner of Henry and the one one to outlive him.

“Catherine Parr, out of all of the six wives I probably knew the least of,” Vikander said in an interview on a Cannes lodge terrace. “And it seemed like that was the general feel from everybody that I talked to. The one woman who survived was the least interesting to know about.”

“Firebrand,” tailor-made from Elizabeth Freemantle’s novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” has all the accoutrement of a lush period drama (Jude Law grandly co-stars as Henry), but it’s animated by a twist in perspective and a feminist spirit. “History tells us a few things, mostly about men and war,” a title card broadcasts on the movie’s beginning.

The film follows Parr as she negotiates a tough, abusive husband whereas making an attempt to have some perform in shaping nationwide affairs. She’s mates with the controversial Protestant preacher Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a relationship that poses grave hazard to Parr if found. Meanwhile, some members of the king’s court docket docket, along with the bishop Stephen Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), conspire to have Parr adjust to inside the footsteps of Henry’s prior wives.

For Vikander, the preternaturally poised 34-year-old Swedish actor, investigating Parr was filled with discovery. Parr penned a variety of books in her life and spoke overtly about Protestantism, the Reformation and then-controversial English translations of the Bible. That led to accusations of heresy and rising distrust from Henry.

“The first Wikipedia search I did when I was sent the script, I saw that she was the first queen who’s ever been published under her own name in British history,” said Vikander. “I thought: That’s really a huge feat to do that with the kind of views that she’s tackling whilst being married to a man known to be the most terrifying and dangerous man with quite different beliefs.”

“I thought: When did I read a text that’s older than 100 years from a woman?” added Vikander.

Alicia Vikander, left, and Jude Law on the 76th worldwide film competitors, Cannes, southern France (Photo | AP)

Vikander has sometimes been at home in costume dramas. She starred in “A Royal Affair” and “Anna Karenina” sooner than worthwhile an Oscar for her effectivity in 2015’s “The Danish Girl.” But some of her best performances — the robot android of “Ex Machina,” the miniseries “Irma Vep” — have been additional updated.

“Firebrand,” which doesn’t however have a launch date, speaks to every earlier and present. To stretch the aim, the film in the long run depends upon some speculative fiction to consider what might have occurred behind closed doorways.

“Jude and I said even if we sat with 20 history books in front of us, they all have the same pillars of points and have different ways of interpreting what’s in between,” says Vikander. “That’s what we were doing, too, with artistic choices we made.”

Shot on location at Haddon Hall, Vikander and Law had dressing rooms inside the citadel cellar. The clothes, too, had been transportive.

“Between takes sitting with the other women, in those costumes you don’t sit up straight. We were all lying on the floor in those corsets,” said Vikander. “It gave me a real image. This is what it was like.”

CANNES — It’s broadly acknowledged that Henry VIII, the Tudor king, had a really grim batting widespread when it bought right here to matrimony.

His litany of wives, in spite of everything, is the subject of the current Broadway current, “Six,” and loads of completely different productions. The wives’ succession of fates — two beheadings and three completely different deaths — has prolonged loomed inside the historic creativeness.

The new film “Firebrand,” which premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, takes a particular technique to a much-dramatized chapter of Sixteenth-century British historic previous. The film, directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the sixth partner of Henry and the one one to outlive him.googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

“Catherine Parr, out of all of the six wives I probably knew the least of,” Vikander said in an interview on a Cannes lodge terrace. “And it seemed like that was the general feel from everybody that I talked to. The one woman who survived was the least interesting to know about.”

“Firebrand,” tailor-made from Elizabeth Freemantle’s novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” has all the accoutrement of a lush period drama (Jude Law grandly co-stars as Henry), but it’s animated by a twist in perspective and a feminist spirit. “History tells us a few things, mostly about men and war,” a title card broadcasts on the movie’s beginning.

The film follows Parr as she negotiates a tough, abusive husband whereas making an attempt to have some perform in shaping nationwide affairs. She’s mates with the controversial Protestant preacher Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a relationship that poses grave hazard to Parr if found. Meanwhile, some members of the king’s court docket docket, along with the bishop Stephen Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), conspire to have Parr adjust to inside the footsteps of Henry’s prior wives.

For Vikander, the preternaturally poised 34-year-old Swedish actor, investigating Parr was filled with discovery. Parr penned a variety of books in her life and spoke overtly about Protestantism, the Reformation and then-controversial English translations of the Bible. That led to accusations of heresy and rising distrust from Henry.

“The first Wikipedia search I did when I was sent the script, I saw that she was the first queen who’s ever been published under her own name in British history,” said Vikander. “I thought: That’s really a huge feat to do that with the kind of views that she’s tackling whilst being married to a man known to be the most terrifying and dangerous man with quite different beliefs.”

“I thought: When did I read a text that’s older than 100 years from a woman?” added Vikander.

Alicia Vikander, left, and Jude Law on the 76th worldwide film competitors, Cannes, southern France (Photo | AP)

Vikander has sometimes been at home in costume dramas. She starred in “A Royal Affair” and “Anna Karenina” sooner than worthwhile an Oscar for her effectivity in 2015’s “The Danish Girl.” But some of her best performances — the robot android of “Ex Machina,” the miniseries “Irma Vep” — have been additional updated.

“Firebrand,” which doesn’t however have a launch date, speaks to every earlier and present. To stretch the aim, the film in the long run depends upon some speculative fiction to consider what might have occurred behind closed doorways.

“Jude and I said even if we sat with 20 history books in front of us, they all have the same pillars of points and have different ways of interpreting what’s in between,” says Vikander. “That’s what we were doing, too, with artistic choices we made.”

Shot on location at Haddon Hall, Vikander and Law had dressing rooms inside the citadel cellar. The clothes, too, had been transportive.

“Between takes sitting with the other women, in those costumes you don’t sit up straight. We were all lying on the floor in those corsets,” said Vikander. “It gave me a real image. This is what it was like.”