Alicia Vikander covers the September issue of Vanity Fair. I was like, “did she get the cover just for Jason Bourne?” No. She got it for The Light Between Oceans, and as such, her big Vanity Fair debut comes with lots and lots of references to her TLBO costar and off-screen lover Michael Fassbender. Even in the first paragraph of the cover story, we find out that part of the interview took place over Skype, as Vikander was visiting Fassbender in Australia. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

How far she’s come so fast: “Hollywood was like a rumor. I and my mum, we’d set the alarm to two A.M. to watch the Oscars, and it was like a window onto another universe. And then to have her there next to me [at the Oscars] this year. We were just cursing in Swedish. . . . It’s been pretty f–king . . . Wow.”

Her years spent in ballet: “My image of myself was not the best. Being in ballet school and being in leotards in front of a mirror I don’t know how many hours a day was quite tough.”

Living in a London flat with Icona Pop & Tove Lo. “It was the dirtiest bachelorette pad you’ve ever seen,” Vikander says. The four girls shared two beds and all their clothes, which they kept in a pile on the floor. She auditioned, unsuccessfully, for Snow White and the Huntsman and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She made 15 “self-tapes” for various American television pilots and got completely ignored. “I didn’t even get a ‘No,’ ” she says—her first taste of Hollywood.

A story from Fassbender: Vikander, Fassbender, and a handful of crew were going to actually live at the lighthouse for the next month during filming. Fassbender was reluctant, thinking, “Is that necessary?” But Vikander didn’t question it. “She doesn’t take anything for granted,” says Fassbender. “With a lot of these actresses coming out, there’s this bravery that you don’t see so much in male actors. . . . I noticed this as well with Lupita [Nyong’o] in 12 Years a Slave—this focus and understanding that there’s an opportunity given to you and you grab it.” Vikander’s determination to get Isabel right inspired Fassbender, an actor who hardly needs improvement, to up his game. “She doesn’t mind taking a character she’s playing to an ugly place. Her level of commitment made me focus and make sure I was as committed.”

Vikander on working with Fassbender: “He was very sweet at letting me in. . . . He was like, ‘Can you please give me a note? What do you think I should do?’ It was such a sweet thing to kind of let me in.” Even Fassbender, who’s abjectly reluctant to speak about his personal relationships, admits, “These things of course sort of spill through to what you’re doing.”

Hollywood gossip/media: “The gossip press is so big out here. There’s an urge to find that one thing that you say that can make a headline. It’s tough because I don’t want to be reserved, or holding back, or to not be myself.” It seems she’s speaking from personal experience, so I ask if there have been any stories out there in the press that she regrets. She’s about to answer when, as if on cue, a junior publicist who has been listening in loudly interrupts. “Can we skip the question and wrap it up real quick?”

[From Vanity Fair]

I think Fassbender’s comparison of Vikander to Lupita Nyong’o is particularly fascinating because there were a lot of rumors that Fassy and Lupita also had an on-set romance (which reportedly burned out pretty quickly). And Lupita became the It Girl that year too! That’s the power of Fassbender, I guess. Bang him for a few months and suddenly you become an It Girl. As for the rest of it… I think Vikander comes across as fine here. I do feel like there’s been a shift in how she speaks to media outlets in the past few months, and you can feel that her guard is up more often. Then again, I do think there’s something rather tightly wound about her anyway.

Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/Vanity Fair.