Who does Alicia Vikander look like on the April cover of W Magazine? It’s driving me crazy. Some say Lea Michele, but I think it might be more… Natalie Portman? Maybe a little bit of Keira Knightley thrown in there too. The Portman-Knightley comparisons are probably apt – at the tender age of 26, Alicia is going to “arrive” in a big way this year, with six major releases coming out in the next nine months or so. I’m sure she’ll be called “the new Natalie Portman” or something like that. Plus, Alicia is going to get increasing gossip buzz this year because she’s still very much “with” Michael Fassbender. She says as much to W Magazine. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

Fassbender is her boyfriend: A few months ago, she completed The Light Between Oceans, directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), in which she and Michael Fassbender play a couple who tend a lighthouse on a remote island off the Western coast of Australia. During the making of the movie, Vikander and Fassbender began dating, and, although she wouldn’t discuss the relationship when we met, she had just returned from a long weekend in San Francisco, where Fassbender was filming Steve Jobs.

Working with Eddie Redmayne on The Danish Girl (Redmayne plays artist Einar Wegener and Alicia plays his wife: “They were both artists. My studio model doesn’t show up one day, so I ask my husband to put on stockings and high heels to replace her. He says no. But my character persists. And then, they kind of enjoy that reverse-gender game together for a while. But it quickly turns serious. The movie is really about the fear of losing someone you love.”

She thinks she’s going to be at the Oscars next year: “Next year, the Oscars will be interesting. If all goes well, I’m going to have three films in contention. I’ve had many years of working a lot without being in the public eye. And that’s been good. But by this time next year, I think things are going to change. I expect to be busy. I’m ready to be a bit more known.”

[From W Magazine]

You know what this reminds me of? Jessica Chastain’s sudden rise out of nowhere about four years ago. Chastain had that kind of year too, where she had like six major film roles and everyone in Hollywood was blown away by her range as an actress. Anyway, I think Alicia is playing everything pretty well. She seems like a self-contained, discreet young woman. It’s a bit bold to openly say that you’re planning on being at next year’s Oscars to support three of your films, but it’s also pretty refreshing, isn’t it? If she was a man saying that, most people wouldn’t bat an eye.

Photos courtesy of Willy Vanderperre/W Magazine.