Red carpet interview with Eddie Redmayne
Interviewer: Zoe Ball
Q. Congratulations. I remember being on the red carpet only last year and you had just finished shooting The Theory Of Everything. Could you have foreseen this wonderful journey with this story?
A. No. The whole thing has been kind of mind blowing. I think when I saw you last year, I was still at the fear stage. We had made the film but we hadn't seen it put together yet, so we cared what Stephen and Jane would think of the film. But no, it has been such a dream really.
Q. It really, really has. How terrifying was it to take on a role of a man who is so well known and has gone through such incredible, sort of, physical challenges, and you know, and had such a beautiful love story that I guess people didn't really know?
A. Do you know what? It was terrifying. It gave me many sleepless nights. But it is also our dream, as actors, to tell interesting stories about interesting people and they don't come as extraordinary as Jane and Stephen and Jonathan and the Hawking family. And so it was this weird mixture of fear and trepidation, wanting to do them and their story proud, but also of great privilege. It was a kind of a hybrid of the two, really.
Q. My stepfather had motor neurone disease and to watch your performance is just incredible. Incredibly moving. We have had lots of questions in for you.
A. Yes.
Q. Caitlin Owen wanted to ask you this. What was the hardest part of capturing the the progression of Stephen Hawking's motor neurone disease?
A. I mean, the hardest part of it was that when you make a film you don't shoot chronologically, so you were jumping into different stages of Stephen's life and, therefore, different stages of the disease within the same day. But really, in preparing to play the part I spent several months going to a motor neurone disease clinic in London, and the reality of what the disease is, as you well know, is incredibly brutal. And it has been around for 100 years and they are still struggling to get near to a cure, or a reason.
So at moments it was an acting challenge, but you were constantly galvanised by the fact that hopefully the film would raise awareness of the reality of what living with that disease is.
Q. And Felicity is obviously nominated too, your girl. She has put in an incredible performance as Jane. You have gone through this together, I guess?
A. She is such a wonderful, wonderful actress and human being. We actually started doing theatre just down the road from here at a place called the Donmar Warehouse about eight or nine years ago. We had never worked together, we had seen each other's work and we had auditioned for things and failed to get them together, so getting to work together with her on this specific film was really the dream. So it has been formidable.
Q. Very popular nominee tonight. They have been chanting your name. Good luck. Your film is beautiful. Congratulations on an amazing performance. Thank you.
A. Cheers. See you later. Thank you.
