Fresh off his Oscar win as best actor for his gripping turn as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, freckle-faced heartthrob Eddie Redmayne may have found a role that’s equally as challenging and ultimately rewarding. The 33-year-old thespian will soon be seen as Lile Elbe (right), the Danish painter born Einar Wegener who is considered one of the world’s first trans women and who underwent the first gender reassignment surgery in 1930. The complex role was once claimed by another Academy Award-winning performer, Nicole Kidman, who dropped out following a delay in the start of filming. Gorgeous Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who made a big splash earlier this year in Ex Machina and will soon be the envy of millions as the woman who comes between Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., will co-star as Gerda, Wegener’s wife.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis to give us a brief breakdown:
The Danish Girl is the remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Einar and Gerda Wegener (being portrayed, respectively, by Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander), whose marriage and work are cast into the unknown when Einar begins a groundbreaking journey to become one of the world’s first transgender women, Lili Elbe. The Danish Girl has been adapted into a screenplay by BAFTA Award nominee Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff. The film’s cast also includes Matthias Schoenaerts (The Drop), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), and Amber Heard (The Rum Diary).
The film, directed by Tom Hooper, who won scores of awards for The King’s Speech in 2010, will be screened at film fests in Toronto and Venice this fall before it opens in theaters November 27. [Editor’s note: We’ve been advised that the posters for the film we published earlier are not official so they’ve been removed. See a photo of Redmayne in character below.]
Peter McKinney
Waiting for the trans community complain that he isn’t a transgender actor.
Simon Greenham
Lets face it he’s a damn sight prettier than Nicole even without make up !
petensfo
Certainly nothing against Nicole, but personally I think it’s fantastic that a story about a trans person is played by a man… to everyone but Hollywood, it’s a no-brainer.
Ladbrook
@petensfo: Exactly what I was thinking. Why would anyone even attempt to make a film about a transwoman by casting a cis-female in the title role in 2015. 2005, maybe, but today it seems almost offensive.
Billy Budd
Fuck Nicole. He was a much better choice. He looks fabulous as a woman.
Billy Budd
I also loved his movie about the life of Marilyn Monroe.
Wilson W Wong
he’s a way better actor
tricky ricky
@Peter McKinney: I’ve seen complaints on other sites. they do not seem to realize the dearth of transsexual actors with the ability to act and look appropriate for the part.
balehead
Way too fugly for this role….And is this his attempt to finally come out??
hughhai
I usually would argue for a trans woman to play this role, but if the movie encompasses Lili’s transition in a time before hormones and medical interventions were available, it seems more historically accurate to have a cis male play the role. A trans woman would most likely be too feminine for the portrayal.