--- title: 'Na Hong-jin Cast Fassbender and Vikander as Unrecognizable Aliens in ‘Hope’' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'The Korean director wanted a cosmic view of human violence, so Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell became motion-capture creatures. Their strange casting points to where Na hopes the story will go next.' author: 'Marcus Reid' published: '2026-09-10' updated: '2026-09-10' about_people: - 'Michael Fassbender' - 'Alicia Vikander' - 'Na Hong-jin' tags: - 'Na Hong-jin Hope cast aliens' - 'Michael Fassbender Alicia Vikander Hope aliens' - 'Hope movie sequel Na Hong-jin' - 'Hoyeon Hwang Jung-min Zo In-sung Hope' - 'Korean sci-fi film Hope 2026' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/why-hope-director-na-hong-jin-cast-movie-stars-as-monsters/ar-AA2bTZTO' - 'https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/hope-review-na-hong-jin-delivers-the-action-epic-of-the-summer/' - 'https://www.courant.com/2026/09/09/film-review-hope/' - 'https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/movies_tv/article/hope-movie-review-22421589.php' - 'https://gizmodo.com/hope-director-na-hong-jin-wanted-to-make-an-alien-movie-from-a-cosmic-perspective-2000807472' - 'https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/hope-director-na-hong-jin-201500763.html' - 'https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/hope-sequel-na-hong-jin-michael-fassbender-interview/' - 'https://hypebeast.com/2026/5/neon-na-hong-jin-confirms-hope-sequel-already-written-news' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/na-hong-jin-cast-fassbender-and-vikander-as-unrecognizable-aliens-in-hope' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Na Hong-jin Cast Fassbender and Vikander as Unrecognizable Aliens in ‘Hope’ *The Korean director wanted a cosmic view of human violence, so Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell became motion-capture creatures. Their strange casting points to where Na hopes the story will go next.* By Marcus Reid, 2026-09-10 · Away From Set Na Hong-jin has turned three recognizable movie stars into nearly anonymous aliens in “Hope,” his Korean science-fiction thriller opening in theaters Sept. 9, 2026. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell appear under layers of computer effects, with Cameron Britton performing the first creature in motion capture. The choice matters because Na is not using famous faces to make the aliens familiar. He is asking audiences to look past the faces altogether — and then consider the creatures’ side of the story. That idea came from Na’s desire to see human behavior from what he called a “cosmic perspective,” as Gizmodo reported. After “The Wailing,” he said, he wanted to examine social and human phenomena from a viewpoint he had not tried before. Space gave him that distance. The result is a monster film in which the monsters gradually receive more understanding than the people hunting them. ## Na Hong-jin wanted the aliens to have a point of view “Hope” begins in Hope Harbor, a South Korean town near the Demilitarized Zone. Police Chief Bum-seok, played by Hwang Jung-min, investigates animal attacks while hunter Sung-ki, played by Zo In-sung, searches the woods. Officer Sung-ae, played by Hoyeon, joins the pursuit. At first, the threat might be a tiger that crossed the border. Then the evidence points toward something much larger. The movie keeps the creatures in daylight, a choice Na discussed with Gizmodo. He wanted viewers to wonder whether the attacks came from wild animals, local folklore or something from another world. The aliens stand more than three meters tall, move quickly and share the frame with the human actors through wide-angle photography. Na said he wanted to break from the usual slow, shadowy monster language. The creatures’ condition shaped their look. In an interview with Gold Derby, Na said they had crash-landed on Earth months or a year before the story begins. They are hungry, injured and unable to adjust to the planet. Their battered appearance is part of the story, not a glossy costume choice. ![Na Hong-jin in 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/9b1dd6cb-c73c-414d-8f27-bf93a5776a03.webp) *Photo: Republic of Korea · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Na_Hong-jin_2026.jpg)* ## Why Fassbender, Vikander and Russell became monsters Na told Gizmodo that the international casting followed the creation of the aliens’ language. He wanted actors from cultural backgrounds whose pronunciation could fit the sounds he had invented. Fassbender, Vikander, Britton and Russell then worked with Korean visual-effects company Westworld on motion capture. There was another reason to hire stars capable of vanishing beneath effects: Na had written a much longer story. Gold Derby reported that the original plot was three times the length of the film now in theaters. The current movie ends before the aliens’ stories fully begin, according to Na. The performers were signing onto the larger idea, even if much of that material remained outside this first chapter. Vikander was the first actor cast, Na told Gold Derby. He raised the project while they were preparing another film, and she agreed immediately. At Cannes, Vikander said she had seen Na’s “The Chaser,” “The Yellow Sea” and “The Wailing” at the Busan International Film Festival when she was 21. She had wanted to work with him before he brought her the alien story. Fassbender joked that Vikander told him to do it. Russell said the chance to work in another country and make Korean films appealed to her. ![Michael Fassbender poses during a photocall of the film "Hope" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 18, 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/88955230-a504-4c51-84df-5310bbcae870.webp) ![Alicia Vikander posse during a photocall of the film "Hope" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 18, 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/1c4935c1-a0ea-49cf-afa5-f0c2a8ab9ee7.webp) *Photos: Gabriel Hutchinson · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source 1](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Fassbender_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival_02.jpg), [source 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alicia_Vikander_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg)* ## The human stars had to carry the danger in plain sight The Korean cast had the more exposed job. Their faces remain visible while the aliens are rebuilt digitally, and the action keeps pushing them through wreckage, roads and forests. TheWrap reported that Zo had knee surgery and initially warned Na he might struggle to run. He ran through the film anyway. Hoyeon said at Cannes that the camera stayed close to the actors’ faces during intense scenes, so she had to control every expression. The Associated Press described her entrance as Sung-ae — driving into the chase while firing from a squad car — as one of the movie’s immediate sparks. Hwang also performs long runs, but he said he changed his movement depending on whether a human or an alien was behind him. Those choices put the burden of scale on the performers. A computer creature can be made enormous later. Fear on a face has to arrive during the take, in a real place, with real people moving around it. ![Na Hong-jin poses during the "Hope" photocall at the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/f5bca618-48b7-43fe-a045-d39c579cb0ad.webp) ![Michael Fassbender poses during a photocall of the film "Hope" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 18, 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/16c6041a-9eb7-490a-80e9-74cb80feee06.webp) *Photos: Gabriel Hutchinson · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source 1](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Na_Hong-jin_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg), [source 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Fassbender_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg)* ## Na’s aliens are meant to unsettle human ideas about “the other” Hope Harbor is surrounded by minefields and warnings about infiltration. The town’s isolation makes every outsider look dangerous, Na told Gold Derby. He wanted the setting to show a community that turns against what it calls the other, while also asking viewers to understand the beings entering that space. In Gizmodo’s interview, Na said the film’s cosmic viewpoint is friendlier to the aliens than to the humans. He wanted to show mankind’s primitive impulses without making the movie solemn, using dark humor to keep those ideas moving. That helps explain the film’s odd balance: a chainsaw medical examination, a villager trying to hide while suffering an embarrassing bodily emergency, and then a shift toward the creatures’ own language and fears. The Associated Press reported that Fassbender, Vikander and Russell’s alien sounds eventually receive subtitles. Their characters are not decoration around a human chase. The movie gives them a claim on the audience’s attention. ## A sequel would put the aliens closer to the center Na has already written a sequel, TheWrap and Hypebeast reported after the Cannes premiere. He said the story after this film would move into night, with more backstory possibly set in space. TheWrap also reported that the actors’ stories truly begin after the ending of the current movie. That plan makes the casting easier to read. Fassbender, Vikander and Russell are not there only to make a Korean monster picture look international. They are the faces Na wants to remove, then restore in a different form. For now, the audience meets them as wounded bodies in the woods. The next film, if it happens, may ask us to stay with them after the humans stop shooting. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Michael Fassbender](https://cinepixo.com/people/michael-fassbender) - [Alicia Vikander](https://cinepixo.com/people/alicia-vikander) - [Na Hong-jin](https://cinepixo.com/people/na-hong-jin) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/why-hope-director-na-hong-jin-cast-movie-stars-as-monsters/ar-AA2bTZTO - https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/hope-review-na-hong-jin-delivers-the-action-epic-of-the-summer/ - https://www.courant.com/2026/09/09/film-review-hope/ - https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/movies_tv/article/hope-movie-review-22421589.php - https://gizmodo.com/hope-director-na-hong-jin-wanted-to-make-an-alien-movie-from-a-cosmic-perspective-2000807472 - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/hope-director-na-hong-jin-201500763.html - https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/hope-sequel-na-hong-jin-michael-fassbender-interview/ - https://hypebeast.com/2026/5/neon-na-hong-jin-confirms-hope-sequel-already-written-news Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/na-hong-jin-cast-fassbender-and-vikander-as-unrecognizable-aliens-in-hope Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.