Alicia Vikander takes the female lead in 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'

After taking on a pair of period pieces in A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina, Alicia Vikander is primed for a major breakout. Recently having wrapped up Wikileaks film The Fifth Estate opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, and having been in the running for Disney's Cinderella, the talented Swedish actress is now landing her first studio tentpole, and it'll be opposite none other than Tom Cruise.

Vikander has landed the female lead in The Man from UNCLE, Guy Ritchie's big screen adaptation of the cult favorite 1960s spy TV series. She'll play a British spy with an affiinity for cars, with Cruise as American agent Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer as a version of Russian spy Illya Kuryakin. They work for the titular espionage organization battling a global terrorist outfit known as THRUSH. Her character is said to be a new one and not related to the show or the brief spinoff, The Girl from UNCLE, which if you ever saw it was pretty friggin' awful.

Just a couple of days ago, Vikander signed up to play the robotic fembot in Alex Garland's Ex Machina, so she's keeping plenty busy as she climbs up the Hollywood ladder. [THR]