The new Lara Croft rises

By Zhang Rui
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 6, 2018
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According to the director and producer, they were resolved from the beginning to create something new for the remake of the franchise. The film is based on a well-received 2013 reboot of the video game, the tenth title in the Tomb Raider game franchise. At the time of the game's release, many things had changed: Crystal Dynamics took over development from Core Design in 2010, and the Japanese game developer and publisher Square Enix acquired Eidos in 2009. 

The new face and shape of Lara Croft

Uthaug said they wanted to make a movie that would be grounded in the emotional life of the heroine—one that explores her origins. "We want our audiences to see and know Lara before she starts her adventures," he said, adding that people will learn that the young Lara Croft was not a tomb raider from the beginning but a normal girl living in London, before embarking on a journey to find her missing father and solve other mysteries.

The new "Tomb Raider" is indeed thrilling. Vikander shows off her muscle and girl power as she jumps around through magnificent natural landscapes in scenes that carry visual impact and human beauty. As she traces the course of her father's whereabouts, she imbues the character with perseverance, humanity and a more delicate emotional texture.

Actress Alicia Vikander shoots a demanding action sequence on the set of "Tomb Raider." [Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]


"So I thought that this time I can present something new when playing Lara," said Vikander, emphasizing that she respects Jolie's performance and hopes people will not compare the two. She also expressed her hope that audiences will view her version as a new beginning, a separate adventure. "I think they did a good job in creating much more story, more possibilities for an actress to develop the character."

Indeed, looking back now, Jolie's version of Lara has become iconic and there are some who don't want to see it change. But during its initial development at the time, Jolie was not recognized by everyone either: some people complained about her stature, and some complained about an American actress playing a British role, while others complained about her tattoo and controversial private life. In order to portray the large-breasted figure of the heroine, Jolie even had to use a padded bra.

Vikander's path was one of body-building and high-intensity physical training before filming. She got up at 4 or 5 a.m. each morning to gradually transform herself from a thin girl to a muscular woman, and in the process gained 12 pounds. The movie includes a number of strenuous action scenes that involved struggling against a torrential waterfall or leaping onto aircraft wreckage, among others. The Chinese-American actor Daniel Wu, a supporting role for Lara, praised her simply as being "amazing."

Actress Alicia Vikander sculpts her body to create the leading character of "Tomb Raider." [Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]


The director also applauded the Vikander's efforts for the role. He said that he watched her gradually become Lara during the filming process. "This kind of actress is our dream," said Uthaug.

For the actress, the hardest part of filming was the water work. "It's brutal," she said, laughing. "It's 10-12 degree water in Celsius, and I was in there, back and forth, for whole days. We had to reshoot a whole scene because I was blue. I was like 'Can't you do that in CGI nowadays?!'"

"Good partners": a cross-cultural connection

"I worked with a lot of different actors over my 20 years in the business, but she is just like a combination of every good point of every actor combined in one," said Wu. He pointed out that her physical transformation is amazing, but he still didn't want to overshadow Vikander's figure, so he lost 10 pounds for her.  

The actor, who plays a Chinese captain named Lu Ren, actually did not have an obvious love story with Lara in the film. The two are more like partners—two people with similar life experiences who work together to resolve a shared inner pull to find their respective lost fathers.

"At the time, I just finished filming a season of 'Into the Badlands,' and I was thinking about taking a break. Then the producers of the film approached me for this," Wu recalled. "I read the script and I liked it very much. I was very impressed by the way they created the characters. My role is not only the protagonist's helper, but I also have my own story. The new 'Tomb Raider' has big action scenes while at the same time it is a very intimate and self-discovering film."

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