Being Irma Vep: Alicia Vikander set to star in HBO limited series

Being Irma Vep: It looks like film star Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl,” 2016) is poised to add a few television roles to her already lengthy acting resume.

The Oscar-winning actress is set to star in the upcoming HBO limited series “Irma Vep,” which is said to be “loosely” based on the 1996 movie of the same name by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas. Both Assayas and Vikander will serve as executive producers alongside Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”).

Vikander will play the role originated by Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung in the 1996 film. Mira (Vikander) is an American film star who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads. She heads to France to portray the character of Irma Vep in a remake of the 1915 silent film “Les vampires,” but the line that separates her from her character soon begins to blur.

“I have been a longtime admirer of Olivier and his work,” Vikander said when the project was announced. “I am very excited for us to work together, and to be a part of the expanded universe of his superb cult classic, ‘Irma Vep.’ There are a lot of brilliant people coming together, and I am delighted to be partnering with HBO and A24 on this special project.”

This will be one of Vikander’s first big roles on a North American television series — except for Netflix’s now-canceled series

“The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” most of her resume is

Alicia Vikander to star in “Irma Vep” populated by film roles and a few Swedish television series.

“Irma Vep” also isn’t Vikander’s only TV project currently in the works.the “Tomb Raider” star is also teaming up with “Boardwalk Empire” creator Terence Winter to develop a “Dial M for Murder” anthology series for MGM/UA Television.though Vikander is on board as executive producer via her Vikarious Film production company, she is reportedly considering a role in front of the camera, too, and we’ll likely hear more about this one once a network signs on.

‘Fantasy’ reboot: It’s definitely not the first time — and given Hollywood’s penchant for revisiting the classics, it might not be the last time, either — that Fox has given the green light to Sony Television’s planned reboot of the 1970s TV classic “Fantasy Island.”

Hailed as a “contemporary adaptation,” the new television series comes courtesy of writers/executive producers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (“Lie to Me”), who are offering a more philosophical take on the original premise. The new project is said to be more about the “what if” questions that haunt us; each episode telling the story of a person who arrives on the island with a specific desire and who, instead, ends up completely transformed by their experience.

The original series famously starred Ricardo Montalbán

(“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” 1982) as Mr. Roarke, the overseer of an island where people could live out their fantasies, which were often moral lessons in disguise. Hervé Villechaize (“The Man With the Golden Gun,” 1974) played his assistant, Tattoo, who was known for his catchphrase, “De plane! De plane!”

The series was introduced through two made-for-tv movies before settling into a successful seven-season run on ABC between 1978 and 1984. ABC was the first to attempt a series revival in 1998 with a new “Fantasy Island” series that starred Malcolm Mcdowell (“A Clockwork Orange,” 1971) in the role originated by Montalbán and “Twin Peaks” star Mädchen Amick as one of his shape-shifting assistants. The 1998 series leaned more heavily on dark humor and the supernatural but, ultimately, it didn’t work out — ABC pulled the plug halfway through the first season and it finished out its season on Sci-fi Channel (now Syfy).

There was talk of a possible female-led revival series at ABC back in 2015, but nothing came of it. Then there was last year’s adaptation as a horror film (2020), which wasn’t a hit with critics — at one point, its approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes was just 7%, and Rolling Stone likened it to a crime “against cinema.” (Ouch.)

Here’s hoping the TV revival will please critics and viewers alike when it debuts later this summer.