Golden Globe winner Eddie Redmayne says he had to train his body like a dancer and learn to shorten muscles instead of stretching them for his role in Stephen Hawking’s biopic
Why did you choose The Theory of EverythingIJ
I thought it was going to be a biopic but the script was complicated, intricate and, at moments, a difficult love story. I found it riveting because it was so unexpected. And I wanted to do it only because of James Marsh.
How challenging was it to get into the shoes of one of the most influential scientists of our timesIJ
There were so many levels of anxiety. You’re playing someone that people know — he’s also a living icon and is a scientist of extraordinary talent. Jane (Hawking) had us over for dinner. It a wonderful moment where I arrived at their home and found Felicity (Jones) in Jane’s wardrobe, Jane having brought down her wedding dress. And when people are that kind to you, it ramps up the sense of your not wanting to let them down. If you are playing someone living, it is a different type of judgment. However much work you do, it is not a documentary, there will be things you can’t get right and, ultimately, you have to take a leap because you weren’t there.
How did you you prepare for the role of someone whose life was so affected by the motor-neuron diseaseIJ
I am not really a method actor and I am normally quite good at jumping onto next things. But also it had been a weird year. When I did space opera Jupiter Ascending, the film before this, I had to get all buffed and then the second that finished I had to start losing weight for The Theory of Everything. It’s a weird thing but you sort of begin to lose track of who you are. We were jumping in and out of all these different time periods and trying to track the illness and the physical decline. I had an iPad with all the documentary footage of Stephen and then we had the dailies. I take it that Stephen probably already had AlS from the outset of the film, so I tried to find the little details in his hands and stuff that Alex (music director) would just be rigorous with. The ironic complication was that when Stephen was still, it was most energy-consuming for me. His face cannot move but that didn’t mean I could relax mine. It had to get into incredibly contorted positions. I worked on getting into extremes of physicality and then trying to relax. I had to train my body like a dancer but learn to shorten muscles instead of stretching them. James ended up shooting two separate films of what my feet were doing and what my hands were doing.
What have you learnt about the diseaseIJ
The problem with motor neuron disease is people don’t know when it starts. They go to hospitals having fallen but get wrapped up and sent away, unless they’re seen by an incredibly astute doctor. It is only when several things begin to go wrong that it’ll be diagnosed.
You also met Stephen Hawking. What was the experience likeIJ
The first thing that happened was that Stephen’s nurse held up his arm to shake my hand. I started talking and made a fool of myself, going: ‘Hello, Professor, how are youIJ’ I then realised that a response to ‘How are youIJ’ takes him several minutes. Pleasantries are pointless. His charisma comes from the fact that he can move so few muscles. But also it’s the power of silence, the power of feeling like you’re being scrutinised.
How has the journey towards your first Golden Globe win been likeIJ
I muddled into acting. I have been very lucky. For a year after I left Cambridge, I had an agent and I was waitering at a pub. But I could stay at home rent-free. It is an expensive trade. The percentage of actors employed is pretty small and if you’re lucky enough to have a good run at it, you do have a sense of responsibility. You do that thing of trying to chase down the job, sounding incredibly confident because you never think you’ll get it. And then you get offered the job and you have a moment of euphoria and then you basically want to be sick for the first year.
Do you think there is anything that you would like to change about yourself — with respect to your professional lifeIJ
I have worked with some actors who have such thick skins and think they are so extraordinary. I’ll think ‘have you stopped learningIJ’ They stop listening to directors or other actors and do the same thing again and again. So it is complicated. I am by nature someone that quite likes to understand how things are working, likes some sense of structure and I have fallen into the worst possible trade for that. You have no control. People ask, ‘What do you want to do nextIJ’ But it doesn’t work like that. I think it’s a complicated, a really complicated thing. Actors are actors and there should be a complete fluidity for anyone to play anything.
The Theory of Everything released on January 16