Newly-awarded and much in demand, Alicia Vikander’s first post-Oscars move has been to team up with James McAvoy for Wim Wenders’ latest. It’s called Submergence and it’s just got underway in Berlin.
Loosely adapted from J.M. Ledgard’s 2013 novel by Erin Dignam, the story finds two lovers separated by thousands of miles as they both face life-or-death situations. McAvoy will be James More, a water engineer who falls into the hands of jihadist fighters in Somalia.
As he endures his captivity, his thoughts drift to Danielle Flinders (Vikander), the women he fell for after they met the previous Christmas. She, meanwhile, is thinking of him as her submersible explores the depths of the ocean floor. Then James Cameron turns up in his mini-sub and there are aliens and … wait, no. That’s not what happens.
“As Danny descends to the ocean floor,” runs the actual synopsis, “she doesn’t even know if James is still alive.” Sounds like a heartbreaker, as well as an intriguing chance to see Wenders flex his filmmaking muscles on a broader (and deeper) canvas. The shoot will also take him to France, Spain and Africa, before wrapping in July.
Somewhere amid all that Wenders will have to find time to promote his next movie, the already-completed James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Rachel McAdams drama Every Thing Will Be Fine. He also has The Beautiful Days Of Aranjuez completed and scheduled for release later this year.