|
 The 32-year-old actor had spent months working on portraying
the near total physical paralysis of the astrophysicist and
author of "A Brief History of Time," who suffers from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease.
But Redmayne ("Les Miserables") knew he had to project Hawking's
wit, lady's man charm and mischievous glint, hence the
photographs of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, actor
James Dean and the joker in a pack of cards.
"They would sit on my trailer wall and before going to work I
would take a last glance and remember to find that glint," he
said.
"The Theory of Everything," which opens in select U.S. theaters
on Friday, is a love story that chronicles Hawking's romance and
marriage to his first wife, Jane, played by British actress
Felicity Jones ("The Amazing Spider-Man 2"), and is based on her
memoir.
It begins with their meeting at Cambridge University in the
1960s, his diagnosis at age 21 when he is told he has two years
to live, and follows them as they overcome the obstacles of his
illness, through their lengthy marriage and his international
fame.
Redmayne met Hawking just days before filming and worried the
meeting would undermine his preparation. But instead it gave him
exactly what he needed.
"What I took away from the experience of meeting him was his
razor-sharp wit, his capacity not to miss a beat," Redmayne
said. "He sees everything. He controls a room. He has a
formidable power, like a sense. He emanates strength."
TRANSCENDING EXPECTATIONS
Director James Marsh saw a parallel between the film and his
2008 documentary "Man on Wire," about high-wire artist Philippe
Petit's walk between the twin towers of New York's World Trade
Center in 1974, and knew casting was crucial.
[to top of second column] |
"If you made the wrong choice, or even slightly the wrong choice,
the film wasn't going to work," Marsh said.
Both films, he added, were about transcending expectations of what a
person can and cannot do. For Petit it was that event and for
Hawking it was his daily struggle.
"Both are uniquely gifted human beings who have to do something that
is beyond most of our ability to do," he said.
The same might be said of Redmayne, who critics say is a safe bet
for a best actor Oscar nomination for a performance that The
Telegraph newspaper of London called so good "you temporarily forget
he's acting."
Although Redmayne is flattered, he said his most satisfying
experience was after Hawking, 72, had seen the film and said that at
times it felt like he was watching himself.
"It was a truly amazing performance," said Marsh. "The riches of
that performance are not in the technicalities. They are in the
emotional life of the character that he projects with all this in
place."
(Editing by Mary Milliken and James Dalgleish)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
