The Light Between Oceans - Interview with Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander
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THERE’S NO BETTER PLACE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A CO-STAR THAN ON THE SET OF YOUR FIRST ROMANTIC MOVIE TOGETHER. THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WITH OSCAR WINNER ALICIA VIKANDER AND MICHAEL FASSBENDER WHILE SHOOTING THEIR NEW MOVIE, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS.
The Light Between Oceansis an upcoming period drama film written and directed by Derek Cianfranceand based on the 2012 novel of the same name by M. L. Stedman. The film centres around Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender), alighthouse keeper and war veteran, and his wife Isabel (Alicia Vikander) are living off the coast in post World War I Western Australia. After she suffers two miscarriages, the couple rescue a baby girl who has washed up on an adrift rowboat and decide to informally adopt her as their own, whom they name Lucy. But as Lucy grows older, Tom and Isabel discover the consequences of raising the child when a visit to the mainland and an encounter with a particular woman, (Rachel Weisz), threaten to break apart their blissfully happy family.
The actors became, and remain, a couple off-screen, too. They sat together at the Oscars in February, when he was nominated for best actor for Steve Jobs and she won best supporting actress Oscar for The Danish Girl. The two actors were both attracted to the script of The Light Between Oceans because it felt real and relatable. As a matter of fact, before shooting began, Alicia Vikander watched several interviews with the film’s director, Derek Cianfrance. When she learned that he had arranged for Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams to live in the same house while making the steamy marital drama “Blue Valentine,” Vikander says she thought that was taking things to the extreme and making it all too real.
However, she soon she found herself living in a trailer on an isolated peninsula in New Zealand, alongside Michael Fassbender and the rest of the movie’s small crew, as storms raged and the wind woke them in the middle of the night. What started as an experiment—the actors agreed to trade in their mainland hotel rooms for individual trailers by the lighthouse for a couple of days—turned into weeks of an immersive experience typical of Mr. Cianfrance’s directing style.
“Derek shoots very long takes because everything is digital,” Vikander said during our recent interview in New York. “It was no wonder there was chemistry between us, because we were allowed to do a scene for as long as it took, sometimes over half an hour. The tears you see are real, our emotions were raw and real. It was a truly amazing experience.”
Fasssbender got lost in the reality as well. For the first three days on set he spent time around the island duplicating his character Tom’s daily routine. He cleaned the lens on the lighthouse lamp. He milked a goat and even made himself bacon and eggs for his breakfast.
Both Vikander and Fassbender are trying to keep their new found romance as private as possible, however when doing press for their new movie that sometimes can be a challenge. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Vikander said that she and Fassbender have an unspoken agreement to keep certain things about themselves and their relationship private. “And I think we’ve made a clear statement that we keep certain things just between us. It was very easy to unite, but that’s quite personal.” Fassbender added the he doesn’t like talking about his personal life and relationships especially with strangers because there’s really no need to do so.
No matter, the chemistry between the two actors is undeniable and makes for a realistic and moving theatre going experience.
The Light Between Oceansopens is currently in theatres across the country