Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander will be the featured guests during the first weekend of this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where they will both receive the fest’s honorary President’s Award.
Alongside the celebrations, both actors will also present their most recent works. Vikander will bring her Cannes Competition title Firebrand, which will open the festival on June 30, while McGregor will host a screening of You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder.
Vikander began her artistic career training as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm and appeared in several stage productions and Swedish TV series before being cast in her breakthrough debut film role in Lisa Lansgeth’s feature Pure (2010). Since then, she has been best known for performances in pic such as Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E, and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, for which she earned Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Vikander won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2016 for Tom Hooper’s drama The Danish Girl.
Her latest pic Firebrand is a fictionalized story of Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of the tyrannical English King Henry VIII. Vikander plays Parr in the piece alongside an unrecognizable Jude Law, who suits up as King Henry. The pair debuted the film at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.
McGregor is perhaps best known for his early collaborations with director Danny Boyle on the dark comedies Shallow Grave (1994) and Trainspotting (1996). Both films now enjoy cult status amongst film fans. McGregor won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his appearance in the third season of FX’s Fargo. In 2021, he was nominated in the same category for his portrayal of eccentric fashion designer Halston in the eponymous Netflix series – a performance that also won him an Emmy.
He reprised the role of space guru Obi-Wan Kenobi in the 2022 series of the same name. The series broke Disney+ viewership records and became the platform’s most-watched show worldwide. In the road movie, You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder, McGregor stars alongside his real-life daughter Clara McGregor as a father-daughter duo who set out on a journey filled with unexpected encounters during which they find a way back to each other after a period of alienation. Emma Westenberg directed the pic from Ruby Caster. McGregor served as executive producer. He is currently filming the miniseries Gentlemen in Moscow for Showtime and Paramount+.
