Eddie Redmayne – Actor – The Theory Of Everything
FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Eddie Redmayne on the occasion of the screening of THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING to the 32nd Edition of Torino Film Fest – Festa Mobile Section.
In the film , Eddie plays theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, author of the famous A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, which remained on the British Sunday Times best-sellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.
Redmayne talks about how he first met director James Marsh and how he was cast for the role after the two got into a very deep and cathartic conversation which spiraled our of a mix of caffeine and beer. Since Redmayne met Stephen Hawking only once – when they were about to start shooting – he could only prepare for the role by working with a choreographer to better learn how to portray the development of the Moto-Neuron disease – ALS and by talking and visiting many ALS patients and caregivers.
As the film was obviously not shot chronologically, Redmayne had to constantly switch from a different stage of the illness to another so one moment he was playing a perfectly standing and walking young man and in the next moment he was on a wheel chair barely moving his lips. Stephen Hawking approved of the film so much that he gave the production permission to use his voice (which has copyright on it) and as a prop for the film, he also provided the film production with his medal of honor medallion and his signed thesis.