Ex Machina star Alicia Vikander is lining up leading roles in the Assassin's Creed movie and the next Jason Bourne...
If you have yet to see Ex Machina, one of the best sci-fi movies in years, then you really should do yourself the favor. Consider that it’s only a few months old, and we already rank Alicia Vikander’s synthetic Ava among the best artificially intelligent characters in cinema. She’s certainly left an impression on folks in the movie industry from Cannes to Hollywood since her film schedule is becoming overrun with major offers.
Fresh off Ex Machina’s wide release comes news that Vikander is close to signing on for lead roles in both the Assassin’s Creed movie and opposite Matt Damon in his Jason Bourne homecoming.
Impressively, these are so many offers that Deadline is reporting Vikander was forced to drop out of The Circle, a new Tom Hanks tentpole that was sold at Cannes with her name next to the veteran star. Of course, both of these franchise films’ lead female roles make utilitarian sense.
While I’d safely say there has yet to be a good video game movie ever (unless Scott Pilgrim counts), the early installments of Assassin’s Creed are littered with potentially great concepts and ideas for big budget moviemaking. Plus, that film already has Michael Fassbender, Vikander’s on/offscreen co-star who she worked with on the upcoming The Light Between Oceans, and director Justin Kerzel attached. While Kurzel also has a limited record in big budget Hollywood politics, he’s coming off directing Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the latest filmic adaptation of Macbeth. And if the buzz out of Cannes is to be believed, Bard and Ubisoft fans have reasons to rejoice with that forthcoming 2015 release.
Assassin’s Creed is set to begin filming this fall with a slated Christmas release in 2016 in mind for Ubisoft/New Regency, who are producing the film, and 20th Century Fox, which will distribute it. Conversely, Jason Bourne is due much sooner on July 29, 2016, but the teaming of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass that made the last two installments of the official Bourne Trilogy so entertaining promises to pique audience interest with a summer tentpole that’s worth thinking about. The scheduling appears to be tight between the two films, but at the moment it looks like Vikander will be able to sign the dotted line for each picture. Hardly a terrible problem to have.
