Alicia Vikander is under investigation in trailer for noir thriller Earthquake Bird

In the upcoming Netflix thriller Earthquake Bird, Alicia Vikander portrays an expat living in 1980s Tokyo who enters into an intense relationship with a troubled local photographer (played by Naoki Kobayashi). The movie costars Riley Keough as a naïve newcomer who becomes entangled in their lives and ends up missing, suspected dead.

Above, EW has an exclusive look at the trailer for the film, which is based on Susanna Jones’ novel and directed by Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice, Colette).

“Working with Alicia was kind of a dream,” the filmmaker tells EW. “The part was very demanding. About 20 percent of it is in Japanese, so we needed an actor who would actually study and learn Japanese by rote so she could pull off these scenes. Alicia has just such a high standard of excellence for everything she does, and she completely aced that part of the challenge. But also, just on a day-to-day level, she’s such a complex and interesting actress, and she always brings so much depth and nuance to every scene.”

Westmoreland shot the film in Japan, mostly in Tokyo itself. “It was a terrific experience to go there and work at Toho Studios, at the center of the Japanese film industry,” he says.

Wait, isn’t Toho Studios where they make the Godzilla movies?

“Yes, there’s a big statue of Godzilla right outside the studio,” Westmoreland says. “We actually did shoot a scene in the water tank where the original Godzilla comes out of the sea. So you could feel the vibrations!”

Earthquake Bird releases globally on Netflix on Nov. 15, with theatrical engagements beginning Nov. 1.

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