Entertainment Extra

2 ENTERTAINMENT EXTRA By Dana Simpson TV Media W hether you subscribe to the notion, famously attributed to famed Irish wit and writer Oscar Wilde, that "life imitates art far more than art imitates life," there is no denying that HBO's newest series toes the line between the two. "Irma Vep," premiering Monday, June 6, on the specialty network and its streaming ser- vice, HBO Max, follows Mira (Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, "Tomb Raider," 2018), a young American actress who travels to Paris to star as Irma Vep in a remake of the classic silent film "Les vampires." Created by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas ("Clouds of Sils Maria," 2014) and based on his own film of the same name from 1996, "Irma Vep" is a unique exploration of the boundaries between fact and fiction. Those new to the intricate leg- acy of the "Irma Vep" story should know, firstly, that "Les vampires" is a real-life silent film series. First released as a serial between 1915 and 1916, the Louis Feuillade ("Fantômas," 1913-14) films span 10 episodes (for a total of roughly seven hours) and tells the story of a journalist and his friend who are investigating a string of crimes attributed to an underground criminal organization called the Vampires. What follows is a string of suspicious deaths, potentially supernatural events, double-crosses and secret codes, all set against a haunting nou- veau-gothique backdrop and involving a mysterious Vampire named Irma Vep. Subsequently, the 1996 film "Irma Vep" follows Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung ("Hero," 2002), playing herself, in the leading female role of "Les vam- pires." Organized as a sort of film within a film, "Irma Vep" sees Cheung grow increasingly uncomfortable (or perhaps too comfortable, depending on which lens she is viewed through) with the director's unique vision of the Feuillade remake. Over the course of the film, Cheung begins to slip into her character more and more seam- lessly, each time losing herself a bit more to Irma. As reality gives way to fiction throughout the film-making process, it becomes less and less clear where Cheung ends and Irma Vep begins. Following suit, the viewer also finds themselves wondering where "Irma Vep" ends and "Les vampires" begins. If all of this is a bit confusing, rest assured you are not the only one who thinks so. One essayist, Fabrice Zagury, who focuses largely on surrealism and classic film, stated in an essay on "Les vampires" that "Feuillade's nar- rative seldom originates from principles of cause and effect. ... Rather it unwinds following laby- rinthine and spiral-shaped paths." In its own way, the "Irma Vep" film follows suit, paying homage to Feuillade's film serial while commenting on the state of French cinema as a whole. All this to say: HBO's new series has its work cut out for it. In keeping with the movie's original premise and themes, HBO describes "Irma Vep" as a limited series that "reveals to us the uncertain ground that lies at the border of fiction and reality, artifice and authenticity, art and life" while the protagonist "struggles as the distinctions between herself and the charac- ter she plays begin to blur and merge." The series was ordered by HBO mid-pandemic, in December 2020, and is co-produced by Little Lamb Films ("Euphoria") and A24, the entertainment com- pany behind such films as "Midsommar" (2019), "The Lighthouse" (2019), "X" (2022), "Minari" (2020) and the Academy Award Best Picture- winning film "Moonlight" (2016). And in an extra exciting bit of news released by France's Centre National du Cinéma, the original series score is provided by none other than Thomas Bangalter, one-half of the recent- ly disbanded Parisian electronic music duo Daft Punk. An official trailer for the series has yet to be released as of writ- ing — presumably to safeguard the mystery of the experience — but casting information counts Byron Bowers ("No Sudden Move," 2021), Tom Sturridge ("On the Road," 2012), Vincent Macaigne ("The Innocents," 2016), Adria Arjona ("True Detective"), Carrie Brownstein ("Carol," 2015), Lars Eidinger ("Personal Shopper," 2016), Vincent Lacoste ("Amanda," 2018), Jerrod Carmichael ("The Carmichael Show"), Fala Chen ("Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," 2021), Hippolyte Girardot ("The French Dispatch," 2021) and relative newcomer Devon Ross ("The Mermaid's Daughter," 2011) among Vikander's co-stars. Schwering Realty 2 x 2" Pear Tree Gallery 3 x 2" On the Cover Alicia Vikander in "Irma Vep" Realities merge in HBO's 'Irma Vep' Chase Center 3 x 2" American Legion Post 60 2 x 3" Thrifty Muffler 2 x 2.5"

• Cover