Alicia Vikander in Talks for Ben Wheatley’s Action-Sci-fi ‘Freakshift,’ Which Sounds Awesome
Alicia Vikander has quickly become one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood after breaking out with Ex Machina and stealing the show in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Danish Girl. She’s currently filming Tomb Raider as the new Lara Croft, and is now in negotiations to star in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire follow-up, Freakshift.
Deadline reports that Freakshift is an action-sci-fi thriller about a team of “misfits” whose job is to hunt down nocturnal subterranean monsters, and if that doesn’t sound fantastic I don’t know what to tell you. Wheatley’s Free Fire is currently running the festival circuit (our Britt Hayes played paintball with the cast at SXSW), and is essentially a 90-minute shootout that some have described as exhilarating and others (like our Matt Singer in his review) have called only monotonous. But it’s clear that Wheatley wants to break into the action genre, and if Free Fire doesn’t quite cut it, just the premise of Freakshift sounds pretty awesome.
Vikander would play the protagonist in the movie, tasked with hunting down these creatures. It’s scheduled to begin filming this fall after she wraps production on Tomb Raider. Given Free Fire’s — as well as Wheatley’s 2015 movie High Rise — impressive cast rosters, it probably won’t be difficult for him to track down a few more big names for his next flick. I, for one, welcome Alicia Vikander’s newfound action star persona.
Free Fire hits theaters April 21.