Alicia Vikander has revealed she is relying on artificial intelligence to help her prepare for her West End stage debut.
The Oscar-winning actress, 35, is set to star in a new production of Henrik Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea at London’s Bridge Theatre this September, nearly two decades after her last appearance on stage.
Best known for her performances in Ex Machina and Tomb Raider, Vikander takes on the role of Ellida, a lighthouse-keeper’s daughter whose life is upended when a former fiancé returns to her world.
The eight-week run, directed and adapted by Simon Stone, will also feature The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln.
Speaking to The London Standard, Vikander admitted she has turned to AI to speed up her line learning, even creating a digital version of Lincoln to practise with at home.
“There are apps for it now, it’s so cool! Because it takes me a while to learn lines, that’s why I normally like the prep time, especially if you don’t have the other actors there,” she explained.
“This app you can choose the character, so you can say British, Aussie, female, middle-aged, whatever, and then they read the lines. I’ve realised that some AI voices are upgraded and actually quite good, while others are more flat and robotic.”
“I’ve told Andrew, my AI Andrew is not on your level - but he’s very good too!” she laughed.
Asked what Lincoln made of the revelation, Vikander said: “I think it’s not his world. I don’t think I’m going to find Andrew with a robotic Alicia - I don’t think that works for him.”
The Lady from the Sea is set to open at the Bridge Theatre on 10 September until November 8.
Elsewhere, Vikander recently said The Danish Girl, a movie about one of the first transgender women to undergo sex reassignment surgery, “feels extremely dated already”.
The actress starred as artist Gerda in the film, who is the wife of Eddie Redmayne’s Lili, a character inspired by Danish painter and transgender woman Lili Elbe, who lived in the 19th and early 20th century.
Speaking to British Vogue, Vikander said: “I’m the first one to say it already feels extremely dated, which I think is a good thing.
“At that time, it was a pivot in something that it made (the subject of transgender lives) at least discussed.
“I hope that in a way it was a bit of an eye-opener and opened the way for art to cover those themes.”
Redmayne described his participation in The Danish Girl as “a mistake”, adding that he “wouldn’t take it on now” in an interview with the Sunday Times in 2021.
Vikander won an Academy Award for her role in the film, which was released almost 10 years ago, and adapted from the book of the same name by David Ebershoff.
Read the full interview in the print edition of the London Standard and online from Thursday, September 11.
