Eddie Redmayne Talks About His Newest Roles

Published on November 4, 2014.

Photo by Rob Latour/REX

Actor Eddie Redmayne, 32, has seen his career take off recently after starring in the 2012 film, Les Miserables.

Redmayne’s most recent film, The Theory of Everything, has him taking on the character of real-life worldwide famous physicist Stephen Hawking.

The film, which is set to come out very soon, documents Hawking’s life and his relationship with now ex-wife Jane Hawking played by Felicity Jones.

The role of Hawking is an especially challenging one as he was diagnosed with ALS in his early 20’s, so Redmayne had to prepare and study how best to represent Hawking as well as pay homage to him, not offend him.

Redmayne spent four months preparing for his role, saying, “Mostly it was about understanding ALS and what the disease is and what physical ramifications and also emotional ramifications it has on people and their families and try to learn really to decipher what Stephen’s declines would have been like,” the actor stated.

As well as that important role, Eddie is also stepping right into his next challenge, portraying the first man to have sexual reassignment surgery in 1931.

The film, titled The Danish Girl, looks at the life of Danish painter Elinar Wegener who changed his name to Lili Elbe after getting the surgery.

Just like his Hawking role, Redmayne is making sure to put in a lot of work to get the character right, “Even though it is period and under completely different circumstances than today, I’m meeting many women from the trans community and hearing their experiences,” he stated on his newest role.

The film is still in pre-production and plans to begin shooting in January, giving Redmayne a bit more time to prepare before fully taking on the difficult role.

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