ALICIA
Alicia had already racked up an impressive résumé when she got the nod for Tomb Raider – most notably The Danish Girl, which earned her an Oscar.
Unlike try-anything-once Angie, Alicia (29) is soft-spoken with a good-girl reputation. She likes to keep her private life far from the limelight – she tied the knot with her Light between Oceans co-star Michael Fassbender (40) in a super-secret ceremony in Ibiza last year.
According to the 2018 Tomb Raider director, Roar Uthaug, Alicia’s sweetness made her all the more appealing for the Lara reboot. “For me, it’s really important in a big action-adventure movie like this that you have a relatable character and an emotional connection to them,” he explains.
“And I think the depth of Alicia’s acting is just fantastic. She really brings humanity to the character.”
PLOT OF THE REBOOT The movie is a prequel to the Angelina Jolie movies. Alicia plays a 21-year-old heiress struggling to make ends meet, thanks to her stubborn refusal to accept that her long-missing dad is dead, and take on his fortune.
Then she discovers a clue that might explain what happened to her father and she sets off for the mysterious island of Yamatai. Here Lara faces several spectacular tomb-raider trials.
Alicia’s Lara is brave, impulsive and stubborn – but she’s also young, vulnerable and pretty freaked out by the terrifying series of events her presence on Yamatai has triggered.
“When she’s thrown out here on her first adventure, we really see her having to go through the pain and struggle,” Alicia says. “She pulls out the famous traits she’s known for but I love the fact she doesn’t have supernatural powers.
“I hope she’s a young woman a young audience can relate to.”
BECOMING LARA Like her predecessor, bird-like Alicia was put through her paces to become the rough-and-ready raider.
She had to gain almost 6kg of rockhard muscle, which meant working with famous movie trainer Magnus Lygdback for three months.
“It was the first time I was expected to do this much muscle and weight training,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I’ve found it empowering. I wanted her to be a strong, physical girl. This film is about her becoming the action hero we know her to be.”
But the most daunting part was stepping into Angie’s shoes. “I mean, I grew up with Angelina Jolie!”
She got over herself though. “I was introduced to the 2013 [version of the] game and I loved that it was a take on a girl who could walk our streets now, a girl that a younger generation could actually relate to.” Critics have so far been kind. “Alicia doesn’t come off as an action star the way the toned and implacable Jolie did,” Owen Gleiberman said in Variety magazine.
“She comes off as an imploring, impulsive young woman who’s in over her head but beats the odds anyway. Her Lara may be the most grounded and believable cinematic video-game protagonist I’ve seen.”