Alicia Vikander has revealed how she got a thrill seeing her robot alter-ego on screen.

The Testament Of Youth star, who plays cyborg Ava in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, didn’t see her full self until the film had been completed.

Alicia Vikander  (Ferdaus Shamim/ZUMA Wire)
Alicia Vikander (Ferdaus Shamim/ZUMA Wire)

“I was very excited since I saw drawings and visuals of the idea of how Ava would look at the beginning because that helped me imagine what I would look like. This was the first time where I knew that CGI was going to be part of my costume,” she said.

“Normally, you can see your whole costume but I couldn’t see all of it. I had the grey suit, and it was a full-length one. So I thought it was pretty beautiful. I love how the team were able to make a machine look beautiful.”

Alicia admitted part of her challenge was to make Ava seem quite human.

“First of all, when I’ve gotten every part before, I always thought, ‘At least they’re human’, so I can relate to my own emotions. And suddenly I was able to take it further because I was given this part of playing a robot,” she explained.

“I didn’t know what Ava was… We wanted her to be very close to what human is so I tried to find the little things that makes us question her – things like using my voice, the way I move and how I question certain things.”

Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

The 26-year-old actress added: “When I look back, the roles I have taken on are the ones that make me feel really nervous and scared and I doubt myself, whether I can pull it off because it’s a big challenge but that’s what actors enjoy.”

Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac also star in Ex Machina, which is in cinemas now.