Alicia Vikander, starring in the movie ‘Hope’, revealed her deep passion for Asian cinema, mentioning that she has watched all of Director Na Hong-jin’s works, including ‘The Chaser’, ‘The Yellow Sea’, and ‘The Wailing’!
During the press conference for ‘Hope’ (directed by Na Hong-jin) held on the 18th at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, Alicia shared that her first experience at an international film festival was the Busan International Film Festival. She recalled, “I was 21 at the time and went alone with a film. I stayed for a few days, and that’s when I completely fell in love with Asian cinema.”
Vikander continued, “A few years later, I watched ‘The Chaser’, followed by ‘The Yellow Sea’, and then ‘The Wailing’ when it was released, which left me truly shocked. Later, while reviewing a script with an actor friend, I mentioned Director Na Hong-jin’s name, saying, ‘There is only one person who can pull this off.'”
Interestingly, Na Hong-jin and Alicia Vikander had previously planned and developed a movie together, though it didn’t come to fruition because the director decided to focus on ‘Hope’. Vikander remembered, “The director joined the project and we worked on development together for a while. Then, he contacted me in a very careful and gentle way to tell me about a massive SF action-adventure film he had been dreaming of for 10 years, which was likely to receive investment.”
She added, “Of course, we were disappointed, but we couldn’t help but understand why the director had to pursue such a huge project.” This special connection eventually led to her casting in ‘Hope’.
‘Hope’ tells the story of Beom-seok (played by Hwang Jung-min), the head of the Hopo Port office located in the DMZ. After hearing reports from local youths about a tiger appearing, the entire village goes on high alert, leading to an unbelievable reality. This is Director Na Hong-jin’s first new work in 10 years since ‘The Wailing’ (2016) and has been invited to the competition section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
The press conference was attended by Director Na Hong-jin along with lead actors Jo In-sung, Hwang Jung-min, Jung Ho-yeon, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell.
The Cannes Film Festival began on the 12th and will run until the 23rd. ‘Hope’ will compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or against 21 other films in the competition section during the closing ceremony.
