Michael Fassbender explains how Alicia Vikander 'makes me a better robot'

In a recent interview for their new film The Light Between Oceans, EW asked Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender to talk about the best performances in each other's career. Their answers were not only smart and spot-on, but also indicative of how both actors' have gleamed influence from each other. Fassbender, especially, revealed that he learned a whole new set of dance moves from Vikander's widely acclaimed Vikandroid.

Vikander on Fassbender

"Back home in Stockholm, in this tiny independent cinema, I had watched Hunger [2008] and Fish Tank [2010] and I was blown away by his fearlessness. I was taken aback by how much I believed those characters. They felt so real. From then on, I said, 'that is one of the smartest, most surprising actors working.'

He went to the top of my list of best actors of my generation when I saw him, which was especially interesting because he was a male actor and a lot of the actors I look up to, naturally, are women."

Fassbender on Vikander

"When Alicia arrived on set, I said to [director] Derek [Cianfrance], 'Wow, I’m frightened because she’s just so fierce and brave and she had that hunger as well.' It reminded me of when I was trying to break through and getting opportunities. It was so visceral and it was pretty amazing to behold in her.

I wasn’t familiar with her work. But you can tell immediately when somebody has all the goods and more. Then we watched Pure [2010, Vikander's debut film] and I was very impressed by her originality onscreen and how she wasn’t afraid to make ugly choices. That was a real understanding.

What she did in The Danish Girl [2015] was so fresh and modern. Gerda exists in the time of the film but she also seemed like a very modern concept of a woman. The way she moved physically, that comes from her dance background, it’s very clear to me. In Ex Machina [2015], it’s all over that. Her specificity and attention to detail is extraordinary. I played a robot [in 2012’s Prometheus] and I thought I was a good robot. But I just finished the sequel [next year's Alien: Covenant] and I got to steal all of Alicia’s moves. She makes me a better robot.”

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