Vikander: I put on 6kg of muscle for Lara Croft fight scenes with men
ALICIA VIKANDER says she put on nearly a stone in muscle to play Lara Croft so she could make her fight scenes against men “plausible”.
But the Oscar-winner, who reprises Angelina Jolie’s role in the new Hollywood reboot of Tomb Raider, did not sustain the six kilograms of muscle she gained — in part because of her fondness for dinner parties. The film, out next week, reimagines Croft as a London bike courier who leaves her old life behind to look for a tomb off the coast of Japan.
Vikander, 29, told Hunger magazine: “I wanted it to be plausible that a young girl could fight a man who’s obviously both stronger and bigger. To feel like you have that strength is pretty cool.” But she added: “I realised it takes about four months to gain anything, and only three weeks to lose it all!”
Vikander, who married fellow actor Michael Fassbender, 40, last year, said what she missed most during filming was cooking, in particular having time to “choose ingredients for two hours and read up on some different recipes and make your own mix and then have friends come over, make sure they drink lots of wine, listen to music, and be in the kitchen for four hours”. “It’s my dream day,” she added.
The Swedish star, who won an Oscar in 2016 for The Danish Girl, also spoke about the drive for equality in the film industry following the sexual harassment scandal. She said: “I’ve been really lucky; my first three films were all directed by a female director. I’ve had some really cool women to look up to. I think the sisterhood really creates a mentoring environment. Change
The full interview is in issue 14 of Hunger magazine, Power Play, out tomorrow: hungertv.com is about initiatives like Time’s Up, it’s about making sure you include women in all departments, about really making an effort to not only have women in front of the camera, but also behind.
“But also I think that in any industry we women have been taught that you have to elbow your way in, because there are no spots for us, so in a big group, it’s only going to be one woman who gets a shot. That’s imprinted. And suddenly, I’ve never felt such support from women. It’s wonderful.”