After his Oscar winning performance in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne’s next role is set to be just as groundbreaking.
Eddie is starring in the bio-pic ‘The Danish Girl’ as transgender artist Lili Elbe, in what might be his biggest acting challenge yet.
This week, Eddie spoke about how preparing to play Lili Elbe really broadened his view of trans gender issues, and that Caitlyn Jenner’s bravery played a big part in his understanding.
He told Out magazine: ‘I was in New York when the Vanity Fair cover came out, and I was reading the New York Times and all of the op-ed pieces that were being written about it,’ said Redmayne. ‘The dialogue was so rich and full, with everyone having opinions.’
Eddie admitted that he was pretty ignorant to trans gender issues before he took an interest in the role three years ago. More recently though, he’s been following Caitlyn’s journey.
‘I absolutely salute her courage’, Eddie said, ‘Her's is a very specific story, and it’s one that shouldn’t stand for everybody’s. But it is amazing what she’s gone through and how she’s done it.’
‘My greatest ignorance when I started was that gender and sexuality were related. And that’s one of the key things I want to hammer home to the world: You can be gay or straight, trans man or woman, and those two things are not necessarily aligned.’
Eddie added 'I felt like, I’m being given this extraordinary experience of being able to play this woman, but with that comes this responsibility of not only educating myself but hopefully using that to educate [an audience]. Gosh, it’s delicate. And complicated.'
‘The Danish Girl’ is based on the novel by David Ebershoff. We can't wait for it to hit screens in January 2016.
Words: Jazmin Kopotsha
