First Look: Eddie Redmayne Is ‘The Danish Girl’
Eddie Redmayneis following up his Oscar win forThe Theory of Everythingwith another biopic.The Danish Girlstars Redmayne as Lili Elbe, an early 20th century painter who became one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Get yourThe Danish Girlfirst look after the jump.
Working Title unveiledThe Danish Girlfirst look onTwitter.
The Danish Girlis based on the 2000 novel byDavid Ebershoff, which in turn was a fictionalized account of Elbe’s real life. The film chronicles Elbe’s unusual relationship with fellow artist Gerda (played byAlicia Vikander). Their marriage was dissolved in 1930 as Elbe began undergoing her gender reassignment operations. Elbe passed away in 1931 following complications from one of the surgeries.
The project reunites Redmayne with directorTom Hooper, with whom he worked on 2012’sLes Misérablesand the 2005 miniseriesElizabeth I.Amber HeardandMatthias Schoenaertsalso star.
While the recent uptick in trans visibility is encouraging, Hollywood has come under fire for defaulting to cis (not trans) actors.Dallas Buyers Clubwas criticized for casting eventual Best Actor winner Jared Leto as trans woman Rayon, and Jeffrey Tambor’s otherwise excellent performance in Amazon’sTransparenthas sparked debate for similar reasons.
Redmayne is clearly aware of those issues, and addressed them head-on in a chat with theTelegraph:
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.
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.
No doubt the conversation will continue asThe Danish Girlnears release. The drama does not yet have a release date.
Meanwhile, if you think Lili Elbe seems like a dramatic transformation for Redmayne, just wait til you hear about his next role after that.The Guardianreports Redmayne will play an engine in the next Thomas the Tank Engine movie,Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure. He joinsJohn HurtandJamie Campbell Bower. That one should hit later this year.
