Five Takeaways from Hoyeon and Alicia Vikander’s Cover Story

Despite pernicious self-doubt, impending technological doom and the rampaging monsters of their latest film Hope, Hoyeon and Alicia Vikander give us plenty of reasons to stay hopeful in the anniversary issue of Mastermind. Here are five takeaways from their cover story:

Mastermind 20  is available for pre-order now. 

1. Five years after the debut of Squid Game, Hoyeon admits she was not prepared for the level of exposure the Netflix series generated. “It was very scary because I didn’t know if I was ready for that much fame. I thought I had time to work more and develop my acting skills.” As the anniversary approaches, Hoyeon now reflects on the start of her career as a crash course in resilience. “I’m not scared anymore about big things that could happen in my life,” she says. “I have tough skin, and I feel like: bring it on.” 
2. Even Alicia Vikander isn’t immune to janteloven (law of Jante), a Nordic mindset that prizes humility and discourages standing out. Though she had appeared in several films by her early 20s, she found it difficult to call herself an actor. “I was struggling because I didn’t get into theater school, so I thought, ‘You’re not a real actor. You can’t tell people you’re an actor if you haven’t done all the steps,’” she says, mimicking her internal monologue. “I truly questioned myself about saying that.”
3. While the two appear in Na Hong-jin’s latest film Hope,  they had little to do with one another on set. Still, Vikander gave Hoyeon some invaluable wisdom during the grueling rehearsals. “I was telling Alicia, ‘I’m in a bad mood. I’m such a bad person, a bad actor. They spent this much time and money on me, but I’m not doing well.’ I felt so miserable. But she was like: ‘Hoyeon, you just started. You shouldn’t focus on the negative feelings, where you feel afraid, because it’s your first time trying things you’ve never tried before. You’ve got to find the joy more than the negativity.’”
4. Hoyeon’s favorite Vikander performance? As Ava, the seemingly sentient humanoid robot in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014).
5. Speaking of Ex Machina:  the film, which now seems prophetic about the technological hellscape we live in, was based on conversations with artificial intelligence researchers who had a sense of what was in store. “Journalists talked about the film like it was total sci-fi,” says Vikander. “Of course, I’d been introduced to a lot of the conversations and had met people in preparation for the film and realized, ‘No, this is already here, but no one knows about it.’”

Mastermind 20  is available for pre-order now.