Eddie Redmayne 39-year-old English actor and model, has spoken out about his trans gender role in the “The Danish Girl” after receiving some backlash. The actor who has won numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a British Academy Film Award, is calling his role a mistake.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Academy Award winner, Eddie Redmayne, said he “wouldn’t take it on now” after he was criticized for the biopic, in which he plays Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo gender confirmation surgery.
“I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake,” Redmayne said of the role that earned him an Oscar nomination. He previously said that he prepared for the part by meeting with transgender women of all ages.
Although many argued that the movie wouldn’t have been made without Redmayne’s involvement — since he won his first Oscar for The Theory of Everything the year before — the casting fueled the ongoing debate over whether cisgender actors should play transgender roles.
Redmayne is currently in previews for the West End revival of Cabaret at London’s Kit Kat Club. He plays the Emcee, a role often depicted as gender-diverse and frequently played by LGBTQ actors. “Of all the characters I’ve ever read, this one defies pigeonholing. I would ask people to come and see it before casting judgment,” he told The Sunday Times.
Eddie Redmayne, who has been married to PR executive Hannah Bagshawe since 2014, has been cast as Emcee in a London production of “Cabaret.”
He told Vogue that “I hope when people see the performance, the interpretation will justify the casting.”