For Alicia Vikander, the adventure is just beginning.
For the first time, the actress was photographed on the South African set of the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot. Vikander is bringing archaeologist Lara Croft to life, just as Angelina Jolie did in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. With her brunette hair tied into Lara’s trademark braid, Vikander performed stunts on wires.
Tomb Raider is easily her biggest role to date. The Tomb Raider video game franchise has sold over 45 million copies worldwide, and Jolie’s Tomb Raider films earned $432 million worldwide. Directed by Roar Uthaug and produced by Graham King, the film’s cast includes Walton Goggins as Father Mathias Vogel, Dominic West as Lord Richard Croft and Daniel Wuas Lu Ren.
As a young girl in Sweden, Vikander admired the titular character.
“I, with the rest of the world, was excited to see a female protagonist in a video game,” she told Hitfix in July 2016. “I was a bit scared playing it when I was 12, 13. I had to go take little breaks.”
Last summer, Vikander also opened up to E! News‘ Maria Menounos about following in Jolie’s famous footsteps. “That is a woman I would love to meet. She made an icon of that character, of course,” the actress explained. “She’s quite an incredible woman. I would love to meet her.”
Vikander’s version will be different than Jolie’s interpretation, however.
“What we’re doing is something quite different since they rebooted the game in 2013. It’s a whole new take,” the 28-year-old movie star told E! News. “We’re doing a film of that game.” MGM and Warner Bros. are producing the film after acquiring the rights from GK Films in 2011.
Vikander’s Tom Raider hits theaters on March 16, 2018.
By Zach Johnson
