The big picture
- Jude Law and Alicia Vikander share insight on how to approach historical roles in Firebrand.
- Firebrand approaches the final years of King Henry VIII and is based on historical fiction.
- Law reflects on Henry VIII's murderous reign as a product of his upbringing in a chilling interview.
Firebrand is unlike many period dramas that fans have come to expect, though it may seem like it's with its Academy Award-nominated stars. Jude Law (Peter Pan and Wendy) i Alicia Vikander (The green knight), in Tudor costumes, playing the roles of king Henry VIII and the woman who survived, Katherine Parr. The way it was approached by the filmmaker Karim Ainouz (Sailor of the Mountains) is like a heart-pounding thriller that boils down to a searing look at the last four years of this inexplicable relationship. In this interview with Collider's Steve WeintraubLaw and Vikander share their vision and preparation for bringing these two historical lives to the screen.
Alicia Vikander is Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of the volatile King Henry. The queen became known as a kind spirit who nursed the king's ill health as well as nurturing his children, but how she survived her dangerous husband is often overlooked. Based on the scripts of Henrietta i Jessica Ashworth (Killing Eve), inspired by Elizabeth Fremantlethe novel of Queen's GambitAïnouz chooses to tell this chilling narrative as a dark and suspenseful fairy tale that draws heavily on history. fiction in favor of psychological horror.
As for the king, Jude Law is almost unrecognizable as the paranoid and violent Henry VIII, and he talks about how he and Vikander “both did a lot of reading, a lot of preparation, [and] talking to historians” to bring to life what we now only know as history on pages. He also shares his views on Henry VIII, attributing the king's murderous reign as a product of his upbringing. “This sense of answering only to God, that your will is God's way is madness,” Law reflects, “and he used it brutally.”
You can watch the full interview in the video above or read the transcript below.
COLLIDER: I'm a fan of both of your works, but there will be people who have never seen anything you've done before for those people. What is the first thing you would like them to see and why from your resume?
ALICIA VIKANDER: I think maybe I would choose my first film, my Swedish film, Till det som är Vackertor pure in English, because that's where it all started, and I guess it's a movie that I don't think a lot of people have seen, and I'm very proud of it.
JUDE LAW: If I could insist on a double bill because I'd like them to see it Firebrand, that's obviously why we're here, and I think Alicia's answer is great because seeing her first film and then seeing her in this one, it also gives you that sense, too, of an actor's journey, of how far you go and how different you can be from the roles you are given when you are younger. I would definitely choose The talented Mr. Ripley because he was 20 years old and young and bright-eyed.
VIKANDER: You were so good at it. I just saw it. I even texted you because I watched it on Netflix just a few weeks ago. I was like, “Damn, you're so good at this!” [Laughs]
Law: Thank you. Anthony Minghella is a brilliant filmmaker. To go from that and then look Firebrandthat's the wonderful thing, I think, about our work, is that the older ones, you play characters that match your age, and so you can go a little deeper, maybe, into someone who has lived a little longer and experienced a little month.
100% completely
Was Henry VIII a serial killer with a God complex?
Do you think Henry VIII was a serial killer or just a jerk?
LAW: Both. I mean, not only was he responsible for the deaths of two of his wives, but you could probably add about thirty thousand people to that, considering the number of people who were executed under his reign. The goofy look is probably due to the way he was raised and the power he was given as a small child. This feeling of answering only to God, that your will is God's way, is madness, and he used it brutally and he treated people horribly because of it.
I am fascinated by how actors prepare for a role and deliver performances. For both, for Firebrandwhen you know you're getting ready to shoot on a Monday in five weeks, how are you actually preparing for those months leading up to production?
VIKANDER: At first, it's a job you do yourself. You spend many hours at home with the script, with your lines. Obviously, for this film, we had a lot of history books to draw inspiration from and references. We shared what we had with each other. Then we started rehearsals a few weeks before we started filming.
LAW: It's like you're slowly creeping in from the outskirts of other people's ideas or thoughts and the story and the details, the precisions of the period in which your characters or the story unfolds. Little by little, you end up being just two or three people in a room saying, “How are we going to do this?” You want to know as much as you can. We both did a lot of reading, a lot of preparation, talking to historians, talking to people who could tell us how they wore their clothes or how they would have eaten and where they would have sat in the rooms because there wasn't a lot of furniture. , but in the end, one of my fondest memories is the two of us with Karim, our director, just looking at a scene and going, “Okay, what do we want to do? How do we do this?” Then it becomes almost like playing, and it's, “Well, you could start here,” or, “I'll be here, and let's try this,” and “That's not working. Let's try this.” You are looking for the truth.
VIKANDER: Exactly. I think the work that you do before, like you said, is just something that you gather, and the more time you have or the more time you spend digging into it, it will naturally find its place somewhere in your body. But then, you will try to find a real human being inside these imaginary characters. When we get to the point, which you mentioned, that's when I feel it start to happen. I also have a thing of, like, I have all these ideas and thoughts about what I want to do, but then it all goes out the door because I don't know what's going to happen as soon as we try it. [Laughs]
Jude Law and Alicia Vikander find the head space for complicated scenes
See the shooting schedule. Was there a day where you were like, “I can't wait to film this,” or “How the hell are we going to film this?”
VIKANDER: I do that. Guess what? Sometimes I put three stars on scenes.
LAW: Do you like a good day?
VIKANDER: No, like scenes I'm nervous about.
LAW: That makes sense.
VIKANDER: [Laughs] I have, like, the three-star one, the two-star one because, on top of that, you're getting into a really intense shoot, and you never have enough time, you're in the mood. So sometimes I do it to find out, “Is this a week I'm going to have? three three stars?” So, of course, there are scenes you know he's going to have, or it should have, a certain kind of emotional impact on the film, or a fundamental plot change, you know? So, without to want to think about it too much, I can't help but prepare for those days.
LAW: And the word is preparation. You definitely know what happens, you have to do it, and prepare for it. If it's a very emotional day, this starts the moment you wake up. Maybe even start the night before because you're thinking, “Okay, I have to get into that headspace and potentially stay there emotionally all day.So you plan everything, from what you eat or what you listen to or what you watch, or how you talk to people, or avoid everyone, because you're thinking, “I have to stay in this area.”
VIKANDER: And then I always want to fall asleep.
LAW: When done.
VIKANDER: When you feel like, “Oh, okay, I think we've got the scene.” I just want to go rest.
LAW: That's very true. There is a kind of euphoric feeling of achievement and release, and then utter exhaustion. [Laughs]
Firebrand it's in theaters now. See the link below for timetables.
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