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HBO released the trailer for its upcoming limited series “Irma Vep,” from writer-director Olivier Assayas, based on his 1996 film of the same name. Starring Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina”) and produced in partnership with A24, the series premieres June 6 on HBO and HBO Max.
Vikander plays Mira, an American film star fresh out of a relationship and disillusioned by her career. She comes to France to play the role of Irma Vep — an anagram for “vampire” — in a remake of the French silent film “Les Vampires.” As she takes on the role, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur, and Mira struggles to grasp the world around her.
Assayas’ original film starred Maggie Cheung as herself and functioned as commentary on the state of French cinema at the time. Like the limited series, the film debuted at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. HBO’s “Irma Vep” will premiere as an official selection at Cannes prior to its wide release.
“I am immensely grateful to Alicia, A24 and HBO for giving me the incredible opportunity to explore and expand ‘Irma Vep’ in a series format,” Assayas said in 2020 when the series was first announced. “This is a comedy that will try and catch the zeitgeist the same way the original ‘Irma Vep’ did, in a very different world, a very different era, that right now feels light years away.”
Alongside Vikander, the series also stars Vincent Macaigne as the film-within-the-film’s director, René Vidal. Jeanne Balibar plays Zoe, Mira’s ex-assistant and ex-girlfriend; Devon Ross is Mira’s current assistant Regina; Carrie Brownstein plays Mira’s agent Zelda, who is uninterested in the “Les Vampires” project; Fala Chen is Cynthia Keng, Mira’s co-star. Additional cast includes Lars Eidinger, Vincent Lacoste, Nora Hamzawi, Adria Arjona, Byron Bowers, Hippolyte Girardot, Alex Descas and Antoine Reinartz. Tom Sturridge plays Eamonn, Mira’s ex-boyfriend. Previously, Jerrod Carmichael was attached to play the role, but was replaced by Sturridge due to scheduling conflicts.
The series is executive produced by Assayas, Vikander, Sylvie Barthet, Daniel Delume, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, Kevin Turen, Stuart Manashil, Sam Levinson and Ashley Levinson. Turen, Sam Levinson, HBO and A24 previously collaborated as the team behind the award-winning series “Euphoria.”
Watch the trailer below:
