Tomb Raider's Alicia Vikander reveals how her Lara Croft is different from Angelina Jolie's

Alicia Vikander will be picking up a bow and arrow to play Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie reboot next year, but she's very aware that she's not the first actress to take on the role of the iconic video game character.

Talking to our sister publication Total Film magazine, Vikander talked about Angelina Jolie's version and how her Lara Croft will differ. “[Angelina] made that an iconic role,” says Vikander. “I knew we wouldn’t be able to redo that, and that’s not what we’re trying to do either. We go back to the beginning, and tell the origin story.” 

Read more: Take aim at these exclusive new images of Alicia Vikander in the Tomb Raider movie

At the beginning of the 2018 movie, Lara's backstory has dispensed with the privilege and butlers, and she now works for a bicycle courier company and lives in a communal space while she figures out what she wants to do with her life. It certainly marks a change of pace from the 2001 movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and its risible 2003 sequel, The Cradle of Life

“What I like is that there will be a lot of young people, a lot of girls, who feel like they can relate to her,” Vikander continues. “She’s trying to figure out her path in life, who she is, and what her history is.” Director Roar Uthaug adds that his main goal was “to make the audience care about Lara Croft and invest in her as a real character.”

You’ll get to see the new Lara Croft in action come March 16, 2018, but to tide you over until then why not pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film which includes on-set interviews with Vikander, Uthaug, and co-stars Walton Goggins and Dominic West? Plus, it also includes a full 2018 movie preview. 

Pick up the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves on December 22, 2017 or, better yet, subscribe so you never miss an issue! Doing so will net you a fancy (and very exclusive) subscriber cover, and My Favourite Magazines is currently running a Christmas sale that allows you to save up to 43% on a Total Film subscription!

The new issue also comes with four cool gifts, including a 2017 Review of the Year, Star Wars stickers, a Deadpool 2 art card, and a 100 Greatest TV shows ebook. Look out for the below cover on newsstands from December 22...

(Image credit: Total Film/Warner Bros)
Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.

Latest in Action Movies
Wanda in Doctor Strange
Scarlet Witch star Elizabeth Olsen is one of the first Marvel actors to say she's not in the next pair of Avengers movies
Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania
Paul Rudd is still thinking about that one Thanos and Ant-Man fan theory: "I often wonder, though, could he really have stopped Thanos in that way?"
Street Fighter
Almost a year after losing Talk to Me directors, Sony's Street Fighter movie has been pulled from the studio's release schedule
She-Hulk on Disney Plus
Tatiana Maslany canceled a Comic Con appearance due to "filming commitments", and it could mean She-Hulk is in the next Avengers movie
Charlie Cox in Daredevil
Daredevil star Charlie Cox says keeping his Spider-Man: No Way Home cameo a secret for two years was a "nightmare"
James Gunn
James Gunn reacts to Jason Momoa almost spoiling his Lobo costume in an interview: "I just want to profoundly thank Jason’s publicist"
Latest in News
Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor in Superman
Superman star to lead upcoming thriller movie from Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train director
The Witcher 4 cinematic screenshot showing a closeup of Ciri, protagonist of the new adventure
"We slept under our desks and lived in chaos": Before the Witcher 3 became an RPG phenomenon, CDPR's CEOs had a tough time making the original game
Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter
Jason Isaacs says Meryl Streep should play Lucius Malfoy in HBO's Harry Potter series: "She can do anything"
WOTLK
Following a high-profile guild quitting WoW Classic Hardcore, Blizzard makes the unprecedented decision to revive MMO characters that die during DDoS attacks "at our sole discretion"
Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals has an unintentional Team-Up ability for Jeff the Land Shark and Doctor Strange, who can join forces for a bug that sends foes into an inescapable void
Wanda in Doctor Strange
Scarlet Witch star Elizabeth Olsen is one of the first Marvel actors to say she's not in the next pair of Avengers movies