Alicia Vikander and Jude Law talked about the film Henry VIII

[This story contains spoilers for the film Firebrand.]

The fate of Henry VIII’s wives is well known, with a particularly macabre children’s rhyme dedicated to their untimely ends. The wives themselves are less tied to the cultural zeitgeist, particularly Catherine Parr, the last known surviving wife of the English monarch.

Filmmaker Karim Aïnouz signs his film Brandon to imagine how Parr outwitted her husband while becoming a published author and sowing more progressive ideas within the monarchy.

The film is not your typical costume drama. Instead of focusing less on the pomp, circumstance, and intrigue of the place, the drama focuses on the domestic realities of Henry and Catherine’s relationship.

Ahead of the film’s June 14 theatrical release, stars Alicia Vikander and Jude Law talk about Henry VIII and Catherina Parr’s relationship and BrandonIt’s a surprising ending (but not that surprising either).

Alicia, at Cannes, where the film premiered, you talked about how films about Henry VIII and his wives have focused on those who met horrible ends. Why were you telling the story of Catherine Parr, his surviving wife, Did that interest you?

VIKANDRE It seemed the focus wasn’t on Catherine Parr [in films and TV or in schools]. I was a little embarrassed that I hadn’t really heard of this woman. What was important to me was that she had been an author and published under her own name, the first woman to do so, with quite controversial views, both politically and religiously. She managed to be so progressive, while still being in this extremely abusive relationship and having to keep herself alive and surviving Henry. That’s definitely a big part of why I was excited to show this particular piece of history. I think it’s also proof, unfortunately, that we humans only focus on the dark past, the spectacle. It’s terrifying.

LAW It’s more interesting, in a way, to tell the story of this brutal man and how he killed someone, or this brutal man and how he drove someone to death. dead. Rather than this brutal man and how someone outsmarted him and survived him. In fact, one book I read was by Lady Antonia Fraser. It’s called The wives of Henry VII. This little inversion suddenly made it more interesting because it was more specifically about him as a player. It was Karim [Aïnouz, the director] who originally said to read what [we] I want to, but don’t just read male historians, read the female point of view because that’s the focus of history.

There were centuries of research material that you could have taken advantage of. How did you conduct your research for your roles?

LAW We also found that the more we read, the more the real facts were repeated and there weren’t that many of them. What these historians have done is weave their own interpretations between the two…