Irma Vep series brought exes Olivier Assayas, Maggie Cheung together for first time in 'many years'
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HBO's Olivier Assayas-helmed TV series Irma Vep might be a love letter to the chaos of moviemaking, but it also brought a moment of peace in his relationship with ex-wife Maggie Cheung.
In an interview with EW about Monday night's season finale, Irma Vep revival lead Alicia Vikander says she had no contact with Cheung — who previously fronted Assayas' 1996 film as the titular character — while making the series, though the writer-director re-established contact with her during its gestation.
"If people know Olivier's history and background, it's quite special to watch this series, because for a person in any way to open up and be so generous and transparent with their own anxieties or life choices and relationships or histories, it's fantastic," Vikander says of the former couple, who married in 1998 before divorcing in 2001 — roughly a decade before the Hong Kong-born actress retired. "The truth is that the series actually did bring them to having contact for the first time in I don't know how many years. She gave her blessing for this to be made, and said that she'd read it and that it was all good. That, in itself, is a beautiful ending if you consider what the series is about."
Carole Bethuel/HBO; FocKan/WireImage Alicia Vikander says 'Irma Vep' brought Olivier Assayas and Maggie Cheung in contact
In both versions of the tale, the narrative revolves around a movie star living in France shooting a chaotic filmmaker's remake of Louis Feuillade's black-and-white silent film Les Vampires. Both versions have self-referential elements, though Assayas' 2022 adaptation weaves in archival footage of Cheung's performance from the 1996 film, and her spirit (played here by Vivian Wu) haunts the project's director both professionally and personally (like Cheung and Assayas, they were once married).
A representative for Cheung did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment. The network confirmed to EW that the HBO version facilitated renewed contact between Assayas and Cheung, though the former previously told Vanity Fair that Cheung had, in fact, approved of the TV adaptation.
"What can I say? Everything is true. I became a character in my own [show] and my relationship with Maggie became part of the narrative. I was reproducing the conversation I never had with her that I would have loved to have, somehow," he told the publication. "When I reached out to her, I didn't even have the right email. [Laughs.] We've been very distant for quite a while. But I asked her, Would you consider playing yourself in two scenes [in the dream scene]?… At first, she didn't respond, but I insisted because I didn't want to shoot the film without having her blessing. She told me: No, I don't want to act. I genuinely don't want to act. But of course, the past belongs to both of us, so you do whatever you feel is right. If you want my blessing, you have my blessing."
The Irma Vep miniseries finale airs tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO, followed by a streaming premiere on HBO Max. Check EW.com after the episode for our full postmortem with Vikander.
Hear more on all of today's must-see picks on EW's What to Watch podcast, hosted by Gerrad Hall.
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