Alicia Vikander to star in Olivier Assayas's HBO series Irma Vep

Actor Alicia Vikander is teaming up with French indie director Olivier Assayas for HBO's Irma Vep, a limited series loosely based on Assayas’ 1996 film of the same name.

Variety reports that Assayas will write and direct the series that revolves around Mira (Vikander), an American movie star disillusioned with her career and upset over a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as Irma Vep in a remake of the French silent film classic, Les Vampires. There, Mira struggles as distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge.

The original film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and had Maggie Cheung playing a fictionalised version of herself.

In a statement, Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO programming said, “Olivier is a master at weaving unique narratives imbued with levity and drama, and Alicia is one of the most versatile, celebrated actors of our time. They have an undeniable, distinct vision for the reimagining of Olivier’s cult classic film, and we can’t wait to tell it with them.”

News of the Irma Vep series comes just a month after the news of Vikander playing a lead role in a Dial M for Murder anthology series, which she is developing at MGM/UA.