--- title: Alicia Vikander on Michael Fassbender, Light Between Oceans description: In a new profile for Vanity Fair, the Swedish actress opens up about her grungy former living situation and her commitment to her roles. canonical: https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-02T16:15:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:06:13.149Z og:title: The Thing Alicia Vikander Did for a Part Made Michael Fassbender Up His Acting Game og:description: The Swedish actress opens up about her less-than-glamorous start to acting og:url: https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt303736144cafa791/6988a0ca428a9ea421cd3bd2/alicia-vikander-jason-bourne.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Universal Pictures' "Jason Bourne" In Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Thing Alicia Vikander Did for a Part Made Michael Fassbender Up His Acting Game twitter:description: The Swedish actress opens up about her less-than-glamorous start to acting twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt303736144cafa791/6988a0ca428a9ea421cd3bd2/alicia-vikander-jason-bourne.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alicia Vikander Spent a Whole Month Secluded With Michael Fassbender for a Movie  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2016 4:15 PM UTC  LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Actress Alicia Vikander attends the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Jason Bourne" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on July 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic) LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Actress Alicia Vikander attends the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Jason Bourne" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on July 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic)Gabe Ginsberg—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2016 4:15 PM UTC In a new profile for _Vanity Fair_, Swedish actress Alicia Vikander opens up about her road to stardom and her romance with recent co-star [Michael Fassbender](http://time.com/4238628/michael-fassbender-steve-jobs-oscars-interview/?iid=sr-link1). Vikander, who grew up in Sweden, was a ballerina from an early age. After failing to break out as an actor, she moved to London and lived in an apartment with three other struggling Swedes who would later find global success: [Icona Pop](http://time.com/3896190/icona-pop-emergency/?iid=sr-link1) (the duo behind “I Love It”) and [Tove Lo](http://time.com/3341444/tove-lo-queen-of-the-clouds-album/?iid=sr-link1) (“Habits”). “It was the dirtiest bachelorette pad you’ve ever seen,” [Vikander told _Vanity Fair_](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/alicia-vikander-cover-story), adding that the four shared two beds as well as “all their clothes,” which — in proper aspiring rockstar fashion — they kept “in a pile on the floor.” Her big break came in 2015 when she starred in four movies, eventually snagging an [Oscar for Best Supporting Actress](http://time.com/4240519/oscars-2016-winners-list/) for her turn in _The Danish Girl._ She was also filmed the movie adaptation of the bestselling book, _The Light Between Oceans,_ alongside Michael Fassbender. For that role, Vikander and Fassbender were shipped off to a remote part of New Zealand — and lived together in a secluded lighthouse for a month. While Fassbender wasn’t convinced that the immersion was “necessary,” Vikander never questioned the need to commit fully to the part, the actor said. “She doesn’t take anything for granted,” Fassbender said. “With a lot of these actresses coming out, there’s this bravery that you don’t see so much in male actors… this focus and understanding that there’s an opportunity given to you and you grab it.” He even had to up his acting game for her. And then one thing led to another, and now the two are together. “These things of course sort of spill through to what you’re doing,” Fassbender told the magazine about the overlap between their onscreen and offscreen relationships. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/"},"headline":"Alicia Vikander Spent a Whole Month Secluded With Michael Fassbender for a Movie","datePublished":"2016-08-02T16:15:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:06:13.149Z","description":"In a new profile for Vanity Fair, the Swedish actress opens up about her grungy former living situation and her commitment to her roles.","url":"https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt303736144cafa791/6988a0ca428a9ea421cd3bd2/alicia-vikander-jason-bourne.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt303736144cafa791/6988a0ca428a9ea421cd3bd2/alicia-vikander-jason-bourne.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Universal Pictures' \"Jason Bourne\" In Las Vegas","caption":"Premiere Of Universal Pictures' \"Jason Bourne\" In Las Vegas","creditText":"Gabe Ginsberg—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4435113/michael-fassbender-alicia-vikander-light-between-oceans/","name":"Alicia Vikander Spent a Whole Month Secluded With Michael Fassbender for a Movie"}}]}] ```