Friday, February 27, 2015

First pictures of Eddie as Einar and Lili from the set of The Danish Girl


Eddie Redmayne back to work on The Danish Girl.With his new “baby” Oscar in tow. 
True to your promise, Redmayne - From Working Title FB page 26 February 2015 via
We have a glimpse of how he looks as the young Einar.

The first photo of Eddie Redmayne as Lily Elbe in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl. (x)

In his latest project the Theory Of Everything star plays 1920s transgender pioneer Einar Wegener, later known
as Lili Elbe, an artist who began dressing in women’s clothes to pose for paintings by his wife.
First picture of Oscar-winner Redmayne in latest role as transgender pioneer
...Redmayne told the Mail that he has been ‘observing the minutiae of feminine physicality’, and to play Lili he worked with movement director Alexandra Reynolds, who also helped him choreograph his movements as Hawking.
Redmayne said he started working with Reynolds early in January, when she flew out to LA to help him begin to create his portrait of Lili. ‘We’re looking at everything from a feminine perspective,’ he explained. Eddie called the true story of Wegener and his wife Gerda a study of ‘authenticity, identity and love’. ‘I think it’s the most sensitive role I have played,’ the 33-year-old actor added.
He said he had spoken with members of the trans community, to research his role – though, of course, the sexual orientation was in its infancy in the 1920s, and there was little notion of surgery.
‘The danger of surgery was so extreme then,’ Eddie said. ‘It’s such a brave thing that Einar did.’
Read more
The Danish Girl, directed by Tom Hooper for Working Title Films, will be distributed by Universal Pictures towards the end of the year.
"I was so moved by this true story, I have wanted to make the film ever since," Tom Hooper told The Hollywood Reporter.
"The Danish Girl is an extraordinary love story and a story about finding your true self." (x)
I think Tom Hooper wanted Eddie play the role in the first place, offered him the part in 2012, when they shot Les Mis.
Eddie talked about this at the Oscars (video).
Eddie started filming on 10 February 2015.

Earlier this year Redmayne told The Telegraph that The Danish Girl was an "extraordinary love story", and that he had met trans people to research the role. "There’s extraordinary bravery and brilliant people that I’ve met, so I’m hoping it will be an interesting experience," he said.
He also spoke about the controversy surrounding the casting of a cisgender – a non-transgender person - male actor in the role. "There is an incredibly valid discussion for why a trans actress isn’t playing the part, because there are so many brilliant trans actresses, and I’m sure there are many who could play this part sensationally," he said.
"But one of the complications is that nowadays you have hormones, and many trans women have taken hormones. But to start this part playing male you’d have to come off the hormones, so that has been a discussion as well. Because back in that period there weren’t hormones.
"There’s also a great history of cisgender, cis people sort of gaining on the back of trans stories, and I absolutely understand that that is not cool. But I hope firstly this is a specific period piece, and really is set in its time, in which the bravery that it took, if you were in your mind not of the same gender as your physical being, to undertake when there was no question… no one had done it before. So it was basically death or… But the absolute need to be authentic and strive to be comfortable in your own… or to be your own gender, was pretty formidable and brave to me."
... The Danish Girl, which also stars Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts and Ben Whishaw, 
will be released later in the year. (x)

Update 1 March 2015: 
...On Saturday, newlywed Eddie was seen on the London set of his anticipated 1920s-set movie wearing a striped three-piece suit and looking considerably gaunt, having shed weight for the role.
Sipping a warm beverage and carrying a script, the actor marched his way through the English capital's rain-soaked streets with the top button of his blazer tightly done up...

Photos source plus more: hope72 (edited)

A Facebook note from a transwoman Eddie met in preparation for the role (x):
Cadence Liara Valentine: Eddie is going to rock this role. In my meetings with him I am absolutely convinced that 
this role could not have gone to a more capable actor.

After plaudits for playing Stephen Hawking, Eddie Redmayne is set to play controversial figure Lili Elbe, the happily married artist and artist’s model who risked everything to become a woman.- The article tells her story

A portrait of Lili by her wife Gerda

Interesting articles about Lili Elbe 
Karin: Lili Elbe’s autobiography, Man into Woman - one of the few earliest publicly known intersex
people. During the operations doctors discovered that Lili had rudimentary ovaries herself, proving that
she was intersex - when people have sex characteristics of both male and females, so can't be
distinctly classified as one or the other.
Lili Elbe in her own words - a letter written by Lili Elbe in 1930 shortly before her last surgery

News - voice-over for 'Thomas & Friends' - Empire Awards nomination

Perfect role for the big kid (x)

AP Exclusive: Redmayne lends voice to "Thomas & Friends"
The No. 1 blue engine is getting a new friend in Eddie Redmayne.
Fresh off an Oscar win for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything," the British actor will be heard in the next installment in the "Thomas & Friends" series, "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure."
The 60-minute CGI feature will be released on DVD by HIT Entertainment in the fall of 2015.
Redmayne voices the role of Ryan, a new engine on the Island of Sodor who Thomas meets on a quest.
"I grew up loving to watch Thomas and his pals getting caught up in unexpected and mischievous adventures. 
I jumped at the opportunity to get involved and what fun it was! I have never voiced an animated character before, 
and I had a complete blast," said Redmayne in a statement.
Also joining in on the adventure are "Harry Potter" alums John Hurt, as Sailor John, and Jamie Campbell Bower 
as Skiff. - Read more
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Thomas the Tank Engine brand.


Jameson Empire Awards 2015 - VOTE FOR EDDIE!!!
Anyone who votes will be entered into a draw to attend the ceremony itself.
The Jameson Empire Awards 2015 will be held on Sunday March 29, in a central London venue.

Redmayne, whose performance as scientist Stephen Hawking also won him a Golden Globe, a Bafta and a Screen Actors Guild award, is also likely to be recognised at the Empire Awards.
He is again nominated for the best actor award and faces competition from two of the men he beat to the best actor Oscar - Benedict Cumberbatch and Bradley Cooper, as well as The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage and Andy Serkis from Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. (x)
'The Theory of Everything' has two more nominations, one in the Best British Film category and one for Felicity Jones in the Best Actress category.
Eddie's 'The Danish Girl' co-star Alicia Vikander is also nominated in the best actress category
for her role in 'Ex Machina'


Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Flying home to London with Hannah and Oscar

Eddie Redmayne and wife Hannah Bagshawe departing on a flight at LAX airport on February 23, 2015




Arriving at Heathrow


He scooped the Best Actor prize at the 87th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.
And Eddie Redmayne was grinning from ear-to-ear as he landed back at Heathrow airport in London
on Tuesday morning alongside his new wife Hannah Bagshawe....
The couple were flanked by two excited air hostesses, who looked delighted at having been entrusted with the A-list actor's security. Eddie was overfilled with joy as he accepted the Academy Award for Best Actor earlier this week
and joked about having 'a new fella (Oscar) coming to share' his UK-based apartment. And the British star was still beaming on Monday, as he and his wife Hannah jetted out of Los Angeles International Airport....
The pair were clearly still on cloud nine and surely eager to find a safe spot for Eddie's latest feat....

Eddie Redmayne, wife Hannah arrive at Heathrow Tuesday after his Oscar win. 
Love the expressions on his flight attendant-escorts’ faces. 



The Telegraph: 
Actor touched down at Heathrow ready to start work on next projectThe actor is expected to report for duty immediately on the set of his forthcoming drama The Danish Girl, due out next year. Filming began earlier this month in London and Redmayne, who landed at 10.30am, barely had time to drop off his bags at home before heading straight back out to the set.
In the film, Redmayne plays the painter Einar Wegener, who in 1930 became one of the first people to change sex, 
a throwback to his Eton days, when he was often cast in female parts out of necessity.
But one of his priorities is to take his Oscar trophy to Cambridge to show Prof Hawking.
The cosmologist, who made huge breakthroughs in science while battling motor neurone disease, told of his delight 
on his Facebook page. “Congratulations to Eddie Redmayne for winning an Oscar for playing me in The Theory Of Everything movie,” he said. “Well done, Eddie, I’m very proud of you.” (x)

Video: Eddie Redmayne Oscars Return
Eddie Redmayne and wife Hannah Bagshawe arriving back at London's Heathrow Airport 
after his Oscars triumph

Recently uncovered photos from the early years

NYMT production of The Ballad of Salaman Pavey at the Globe Theatre in about 1999

Here is a picture of Eddie Redmayne with, Mark Chalk Iles, a former student at Abingdon School, 
whose mum still lives in Abingdon. Eddie and Mark appeared together in the National Youth Music 
Theatre production of The Ballad of Salaman Pavey at the Globe Theatre in about 1999. Mark is 
currently appearing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. (x) via

Eddie as the MC in Cabaret at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001


I AM YOUR HOST: Eddie Redmayne as the MC in Cabaret at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the age of 19. His grandmother’s recollection:

Mrs Burke said of his 2001 Fringe performance at the Underbelly in the Cowgate: 
“I saw him, but I didn’t recognise him. He was wearing so much make-up.”

Speaking from her home in the Gracemount area of Edinburgh, Mrs Burke said the show cemented the expectation that Redmayne would become a successful actor. “It wasn’t so much that we could see he was a promising actor, 
just that he was an actor, it was as simple as that,” she said. “He was always performing, even as a young boy.”
Redmayne has previously credited his acting success to the Fringe performance in the early years of the Underbelly, saying the “grotty, grimy venue” was where he “really got the bug” for acting.
Mrs Burke told The Scotsman that her “close knit family” was “thrilled” that Redmayne – one of six grandchildren – 
had won the accolade. “I’m delighted, absolutely delighted,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work for him preparing for 
[the role]. I have been watching the coverage of the Oscars on and off all day, I’m very proud. His grandfather would have been very proud too.”
Mrs Burke is the mother of Patricia Redmayne, Eddie’s mother who studied at the University of Edinburgh before moving to London and marrying Richard Redmayne. Mrs Redmayne runs a relocation business while her husband 
is a London city banker.

Ed Bartlam, director of the Underbelly, said Redmayne’s Fringe performance in Cabaret still “stuck in his head”, 14 years on. “It was our second year at Underbelly so we were very much finding our feet and it was all very atmospheric,” he said. “Eddie was a slightly creepy Master of Ceremonies in the show and would come up behind people’s backs in the audience and get a fantastic reaction.”
The show was performed by Doubled Edged Drama, a production company with links to Eton, Redmayne’s former school. “He had left Eton by then and this was one of his first performances, and I’m sure his first Fringe performance,” said Mr Bartlam. “I still remember it as one of the best shows we ever did. Eddie also had a lot of love for performing 
at the Fringe and still keeps in touch occasionally to see how we’re getting on.” 
Daily Mail article - photos from Eton College
‘We were on the same Colts B team in 1997,’ Redmayne has recalled. ‘I always felt slightly sorry for Will because everyone wanted to tackle the future King of England. He took all the hits. ‘I’m pretty sure Will was more intimidating than I was. I don’t think I intimidated anyone in my life. I haven’t seen him since school, but he was a lovely man.’

Eddie Redmayne (back row, fourth from left) in the Rugby Colts at Eton alongside Prince William (x)


Daily Mail: A young Eddie Redmayne keeps a straight face as fellow choristers cavort behind him.


At 15 years old in the JRC “house” play Pravda (x) (x)

Never before heard insights on his formative years from a schoolmate. (via)

Interesting posts, articles about Eddie's ancestors:
Meet Eddie Redmayne’s beknighted, accomplished great grandfather, Sir Richard Redmayne
Will Eddie become the second “Sir Redmayne”? (x)
Daily Mail: Eddie Redmayne's amazing family tree: Extraordinary story of BAFTA winner's ancestors - including one who was praised by Wordsworth and another who worked in same mine as Kate Middleton's great-great-great grandfather

Family vacations in the south of France



bespokeredmayne: Eddie Redmayne’s very attractive family photographed for a feature on their vacation 
home in the south of France. It can be rented for £9,000 a week — family not included. Source: Daily Mail

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The Oscar goes to Eddie Redmayne - 87th Academy Awards Feb 22, 2015


(x)

The moment Eddie Redmayne knew he won the Best Actor Oscar (x)


Eddie Redmayne accepts the Best Actor in a Leading Role Award for ‘The Theory of Everything’ (x)


This -- This Oscar -- Wow! (x)
Best Actor AKA the cutest Oscar-custodian, Eddie Redmayne (x)



I would not be here were it not for an extraordinary troop of people…(x)



Cate Blanchett and Eddie Redmayne (x)





Oscar Portraits by Jeff Vespa and Mark Seliger (x)