Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander: Why They’re Playing Aliens in ‘Hope’

In one of the more audacious big screen headlining roles, Michael Fassbender, Oscar winner Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell play antagonistic aliens in South Korean director Na Hong-Jin’s sci-fi monster movie, Hope.

How did they ever find themselves in such a dramatic scenario?

It all began with Vikander who went to Busan Film Festival a few years ago and became a huge fan of Korean cinema. She began developing a movie with director Na, however, the conversation turned to him pitching her the alien film he was developing for the last ten years. But it turned out director Na only had roles for aliens.

Beamed Vikander at the Cannes press conference this AM: “I was intrigued. I didn’t think. I said ‘Yes!’”

But for Fassbender, who returns here to genre after his turn in the X-Men movies, what brought him? Chalk it up to spousal duty.

“Alicia told me to do it!” he said to laughs at the press conference.

The Shame and Prometheus actor shared that he was fascinated by director Na: “You don’t know what’s coming next….he’s mixing genres, comedy, then absurd, then very real.”

The director said he had no plan for English-speaking actors to play the extraterrestrial bad guys. “They’re very important characters. It’s true that in this film, the three Korean actors play an important part…Michael, Alicia, and Taylor, all these three characters really have their own world. I sort of hope that I could create a whole world around them. It wasn’t a package in anyway. I really admired Michael and wanted to work with him.”

Hope centers around an alien invasion from the planet Gh’ertu crash-landing in rural South Korean town, Hope Harbor. All hell is unleashed as the aliens representing all kinds of shapes and class divisions from that planet square off with the locals.  Fassbender, Vikander, Russell play key aliens from the royal family of Gh’ertu.

Director Na is however no stranger to the Croisette as this is the fourth of his films to premiere here in various sections from Midnight to Un Certain Regard. Hope is playing in competition and it received a seven-minute standing ovation last night at its world premiere.