As you probably already know from our previous article, Alicia is featured on the cover of the February issue of The Wrap, photographed by Patrick Fraser. I’ve just added high-quality pictures of the photoshoot to our gallery. Keep reading for part of her interview, and don’t forget to check out the full article here.

On her first Academy Award nomination: “That still sounds so surreal, especially when someone says it out loud. I can’t really get that my name is in the same sentence. But it’s really wonderful, it’s beyond anything I would have ever dreamed of.”

On how it feels like to go from relative obscurity to being the person everyone wants to talk to: “It is very overwhelming in the sense that it’s been a very big change for the last few months. I think it’s something you can’t really prepare for. But I feel very relaxed, interestingly enough, doing all these interviews and going to awards shows to present or go up and do a speech for the first time in my life.”

On being herself in those situations: “I think “be yourself” is something everybody is struggling to be. It’s that thing of knowing what grounds you and what brings you back to normality. It’s realizing that it’s wonderful to do these things, and then in my off time I call my friends, I read my books, I take my walks. I get excited about finding new projects or work that I want to develop or that I dreamed of doing. What I mean is to not fear what doesn’t need to change. Whatever has been you the whole time will probably continue to be that way.”

On Eddie Redmayne and the work he put in The Danish Girl: “He’s an extraordinary actor, and an incredible friend and man. He really pushes himself. To see the work that he put into creating Lili was extraordinary. A lot of people had been involved for a long time in this film and I know that Eddie read the script several years ago, so I was kind of the last one in, the newbie. And to see, when I came in for my audition, the amount of work that he had put in, I was so impressed.”

On her audition: “It was the scene after the first night when they’ve both been to the ball, Lili and Gerda, and Lili kisses another man. So it’s a scene when they wake up the day after. I had done a reading and met with [director] Tom [Hooper] before I was called in to do a chemistry read with Eddie. It was really nerve-wracking. I had met Eddie a few months earlier at the BAFTAs, where we had presented an award together. He was so sweet, he said, “I know that you’re nervous, sorry to put you in this situation.” Then we just sat down on the floor and had a chat for a while about the scene, about the roles and what we wanted to do.”

On whether or not she felt like she had gotten the part: “We got completely silent afterward. I was trying to read Eddie and Tom. Then Eddie looked up and he had apparently gotten quite emotional. It was lovely to work with him because he went all the way even though he had the part, and we did that scene and we both felt it. But then I walked out and all I could do was just wish that I would get a call saying that I got it.”