When Hollywood latches onto a new It Girl, that incredibly fortunate individual is typically barraged with offers to star in every high-profile pic under the sun, and that certainly appears to have been the case with Alicia Vikander. After starring as AI Ava in Alex Garland’s sci-fi Ex Machina, Vikander is seemingly on the tip of every execs’ tongue, and consequently she’s been recruited for the fifth Bourne, novel adaptation The Light Between Oceans and awards contender The Danish Girl, among many others. Tragically, unlike Ava, Vikander is merely human, and so the rush in popularity has forced her to drop out of some projects in order to accommodate others.
Such is the case with New Regency and Ubisoft’s Asssassin’s Creed adaptation, which Macbeth director Justin Kurzel is helming as a reteam with stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Vikander was previously in talks for a role but eventually fell through – and in hopes of keeping the project on track, the studios have set The Lobster actress Ariane Labed to replace her.
Labed, a Greek-born French actress, isn’t a familiar name stateside just yet, but she’s been making waves over in Europe for a few years now. Her debut performance in 2010’s Attenberg led to the Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and last year she was nominated for the César Award and the Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress for her lead turn in Fidelio, l’odyssée d’Alice. Those accolades aside, she’s already worked with Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos on three films, including recent Cannes hit The Lobster.
No word yet on the role Labed will play, but Fassbender is taking on the lead role of Desmond Miles. In the video game franchise from which the film is adapted, Miles was a bartender descended from a long line of assassins, forced to relive his ancestors’ memories through a device called the Animus after being kidnapped by a nefarious corporation. It’s unknown how closely the movie will adhere to that, but Assassin’s Creed is expected to bounce around between modern and ancient times as Desmond battles the Knights Templar.
Assassin’s Creed is set to begin production this fall in hopes of meeting a December 21, 2016 release date.