Alicia Vikander is Irma Vep in the teaser for Olivier Assayas’ new series at HBO
The series makes its debut at Cannes Film Festival this week before heading to the streamer
Aux News Irma Vep
Writer-director Olivier Assayas has taken his 1996 feature Irma Vep and transformed it into a series for HBO starring Alicia Vikander as Mira. Mira is a disillusioned actor who takes on the role of Irma Vep for a remake of the classic silent film Les Vampires.
From the look of the teaser, the new series bears a resemblance to the original film starring Maggie Cheung, as Mira slinks across the rooftops of Paris and through elaborate hallways in her all black bodysuit. As described by HBO, the series will also follow the actor as she deals with the feuding egos on set, and as the lines between Mira and the character Irma Vep begin to blur.
Vincent Macaigne also stars in the series as director René Vidal, with Jeanne Balibar as Zoe, Mira’s ex-assistant and ex-girlfriend. Devon Ross appears as Regina, Mira’s current assistant, as well as Lars Eidinger as Gottfried, Vincent Lacoste as Edmond Lagrange, Nora Hamzawi as Carla, Adria Arjona as Laurie, and Carrie Brownstein as Zelda.
It’s unclear why Assayas has decided to remake Irma Vep, especially considering how beloved the original film remains (zeal for the original is, in part, due to Cheung’s modest, enigmatic performance as a fictionalized version of herself). From the teaser alone, it looks like Vikander will be playing a less grounded version of the lead actor, which shifts the tone of the series entirely.
This isn’t to say, “No one can touch Maggie Cheung’s performance and remaking the film seems like a weird move,” but…. no can touch Maggie Cheug’s performance and remaking it seems like a weird move. Hopefully, the Personal Shopper and Clouds Of Sil Maria director does not disappoint and “catch[es] the zeitgeist the same way the original Irma Vep did, in a very different world, a very different era.”
The series will make its debut at Cannes Film Festival this week. Irma Vep premieres on HBO on Monday, June 6 and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
34 Comments
Domhnall Gleeson jumps off a roof
Ok, that would get me to watch
I’M THE SPY!
“Irma Vep” is a my favorite anagram for a vampire name other than the bad guy in Dracula AD 1972 being named “Alucard” Uh, spoiler alert for a 50 year old Hammer horror movie
Huh, I know Alucard from Castlevania. Didn’t know that’s where it came from.
“Alucard” traces back at least as far as 1943’s Son of Dracula.
serious question, does it actually count as an anagram if it’s just the original name backwards?
I think so. It just is not a very good anagram
Technically, I think it’s a semiordnilap.
By Jupiter, so it is!
Excuse me there’s a Dr. Acula on line 1 needing to speak with you.
Mine is Dr. Acula, from an Edward D Wood Jr film.
Dr. Acula! (Okay, he wasn’t actually a vampire, but neither was Irma in the usual sense.)
Huh, in all the decades I knew this film existed, I never noticed this.Thank you Evil Lincoln, you’re both an evil scholar and an evil gentleman.
Yeah I only recently realized that too
My favorite is from a short story I read when I was a kid, where the main character’s name was “Carl Aud”.
Yuck. I hope very little survives from the 90s version, which was a total snooze. None of the additions live up to the charming visuals from Les Vampires, which is why the pic they are using here… also riffs off the silent version instead.
As opposed to riffing on the remake of Les Vampires?
This isn’t to say, “No one can touch Maggie Cheung’s performance and
remaking the film seems like a weird move,” but…. no can touch Maggie
Cheung’s performance and remaking it seems like a weird move.
This.
This kind of vibe is very much “get off my lawn” bs.
Maggie Cheung’s outfit was better. Or she wore it better. Whatever.Vikander’s looks like an orthopedic appliance.
It’s a weird look because the headpiece pretty clearly evokes the green screen suit Vikander wore for her breakout role in Ex Machina.
Not sure whether I’ll be more disappointed if this doesn’t include a version of the movie’s final scene, or if it does.
It’s unclear why Assayas has decided to remake Irma Vep
Mira slinks across the rooftops of Paris and through elaborate hallways in her all black bodysuit.
Got you covered.
Shouldn’t this part:“This isn’t to say, “No one can touch Maggie Cheung’s performance and remaking the film seems like a weird move,” but..”
Come before this part:“From the teaser alone, it looks like Vikander will be playing a less grounded version of the lead actor, which shifts the tone of the series entirely.”
Since, you know, the second part is at least partly the answer to the first part?
great news! Love Assayas’s films. Personal Shopper and Clouds Of Sil Maria are so rewatchable and awesome.
“remaking it seems like a weird move”Remaking a 25-year old movie that was good, but obscure, seems weird?
When he made the original? Yeah. And I guess it’s not super important, but the fact he was married Maggie Cheung after the movie, so this is a role defined by his now ex-wife, there’s definitely a weird energy to this choice.
Totally unexpected and random. Why?
Why not? It’s been 25+ years since the original. And hey, it’s not like adapting a film into a tv series – expanding and exploring the narrative – is somehow a novel idea.
What does she think about erotic car crashes?
ENID THE LIGHTS ARE NOT DIMMING.