Alicia Vikander loved ‘getting dirtied up’ in ‘U.N.C.L.E.’

LONDON — One of the first times we see Alicia Vikander in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” she’s playing an auto mechanic. But when asked how good she’d be under the hood in real life, the Swedish actress let out a huge belly laugh.

“Frankly, you would never want me to fix your car. It very likely would immediately blow up!” she said. “But I did love getting dirtied up for that.”

Her favorite car moment, the actress said, “was getting to film the chase scenes in that crazy little East German wreck of an auto. The stunt guy [hidden] on the roof, who was actually driving us, was terrific. I still don’t know how he did all that without getting us all killed!”

Vikander, who snared rave reviews for her performance as the beautiful robot in “Ex Machina” earlier this year, went on to say she loved being in “U.N.C.L.E.” for a couple of reasons. “Of course, the chance to be directed by Guy Ritchie was huge. But also, this really is the first time I’ve ever been cast for a role where I could do comedic moments,” she said. “On top of all that, it was nice that Guy and his team wanted both me and Elizabeth [Debicki, who plays the female villain] to be strong characters, and not merely the sexy girl armpiece of the male characters.”

An added plus? “At several times in the film, you really don’t know what side I’m really on. … I love being able to add that element of mystery to my character. … Just like in real life, it’s always fun to keep people guessing!”

Since “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is a big action movie, Vikander said she “felt very grateful — every single day — that my initial training was as a dancer. That kind of background really teaches you how to move, how to use your body. I’m so glad I had that, because I had to move a lot — and with a lot of agility — in so many scenes in this film.”