Guilty of being the most talented (and stylish) actor of his
generation.
The full Esquire Spain interview by Alba Díaz translated from Spanish by me
The Oscar winner talks about what it means to premiere a film with Aaron
Sorkin
(The Chicago 7th Trial on Netflix) and filming the new part of the most
famous saga
of all time under the watchful eye of its author, J.K. Rowling.
At the Kettle’s Yard Gallery in Cambridge, stands alone and leaning on a piano
Prometheus, a marble head made by Constantin Brâncusi, and the only piece of
art
that Eddie Redmayne (London, 1982) would save from possible massive
destruction.
He tells me about it as he leaves the filming set of the third installment of
Fantastic
Beasts in the early days of an autumn that, we suspect, we will never forget.
It begins
to get dark as the actor nods seriously: “I promise to do my best in this
interview.”
"Many people took it upon themselves to tell me that I couldn't live as an
actor"
Eddie Redmayne made himself in the theater despite some voices warning him
that he could not survive in it. “Many people were in charge to tell me that
it
would never work, that only extraordinary cases make it and that I would not
be able to live from this professionally.” Even his father came home one day
with a list of statistics on unemployed young actors. Redmayne, who is
extremely
modest, polite, and funny, adds: “But I enjoyed theater so much that I got to
the
point of thinking that if I could only do one play a year for the rest of my
life…
I would do it. And that would fill me completely.
Spoiler: since then until today he has participated in many more. He set
his
first foot in the industry when he debuted at the Shakespeare’s Globe
Theater
and won over critics and audiences. He then landed his first major role in
My Week with Marilyn opposite Michelle Williams. And then came one of
the roles of his life, the character he wanted to become an actor for,
Marius.
With him, he sang, led a revolution, and broke Cosette’s heart in Les
Miserables.
“I found out about the Les Misérables auditions when I was shooting a
movie in
Illinois. Dressed like a cowboy. I picked up the iPhone and videotaped myself
singing the Marius song. I always wanted to be him ”.
Now Redmayne is an Oscar winner - thanks to his portrayal of Stephen
Hawking
in The Theory of Everything - and the protagonist of one of the most
important
sagas in history, Fantastic Beasts. He plays the magizoologist Newt
Scamander in it.
When I ask him what it means to him to be the protagonist of a magical
world that is
so important to millions of people, Eddie sighs and takes a few
seconds to answer.
“I have always loved the Harry Potter universe. Some people like The
Lord of the Rings
or Star Wars … But, for me, the idea that there is a magical world
that happens right
in front of you, that happens without going any further on the streets
of London, that. ..
That exploded my imagination in another way.
During the quarantine, J. K. Rowling, who has been in charge of the script
of
the film sparked controversy through a series of tweets about transgender
women.
Redmayne assures that he does not agree with these statements but that it
does
not approve of the attacks of some people through social networks. The actor
was
one of the first to position himself against Rowling alongside Daniel
Radcliffe,
Emma Watson and other protagonists of her films. “Trans women are women,
trans men are men, and non-binary identities are valid.”
"There are those who like the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars ...
It was Harry Potter what made my imagination explode"
After having spent a while talking, Redmayne confesses to me that he has
never
been a big dreamer not to maintain certain aspirations that ended up
disappointing
him. So he has always kept a handful of dreams to himself. One of them was
fulfilled just a few weeks ago with the premiere of The Trial of the Chicago
7,
a film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin that can already be seen on
Netflix
and in some - few - cinemas. “I was on vacation
with my wife in Morocco and
the script arrived. I think I called my agent before I even read it and said
yes,
I would. She probably thought the obvious, that I’m stupid. After that, of
course
I read the script, which is about a specific moment in history that I knew
very
little about. I found it exciting and a very relevant drama in today’s
times. “
"It's a lot of fun playing characters who are smarter than you are"
And it is that having a script by Aaron Sorkin in your hands is no small
thing. Eddie Redmayne has been a fan of his work ever since he saw
The West Wing of the White House. “His scripts have delicious language
and dialogue. As an actor, it’s fun to play characters that are much smarter
than you are in real life. That virtuosity is hard to come by. I really hope
that audiences enjoy this movie and feel that there is always hope. ”
He remembers that since he released The Theory of Everything he has
recorded, to a large extent, English period dramas, “and although the new
Aaron Sorkin is not strictly contemporary,” says Redmayne, “to be able
to wear jeans and shirts and sweaters instead of so much tweed is great ”.
Besides acting, art was the only thing the actor was interested in, so he
ended up
studying Art History at Cambridge University. “My parents are quite
traditional
and when I told them I wanted to act they gave me free rein but on the
condition
that I study a career. And I’m very grateful for that because … Look, beyond
that,
when I play a real character I usually go to the National Portrait Gallery
in London
quite often. There I lock myself up. Now, for Sorkin’s film, I went through
a lot of
photographs and videotapes. Art helps me to be more creative, to get into
paper ”.
If he were not an actor, he would be, he says decidedly, a historian or
perhaps a
curator. “Although I think he would be a very bad art curator.”
Against all logic, Eddie Redmayne is color blind. But there is a color that
you
can distinguish anywhere and on any surface: Klein blue. He wrote his thesis
on the French artist Yves Klein and the only shade of blue he used in his
works. He wrote up to 30,000 words talking about that color with which
he became obsessed. “It is surprising that a color can be so emotional.
One can only hope to achieve that intensity in acting. “
Like his taste for art, which encompasses the refined and compact, Redmayne
seems to be in the same balance when it comes to the roles he chooses. When
I ask him what aspects a character he wants to play should have, he takes
a few seconds again before answering: “I wish I had a more ingenious answer
but I will tell you that I know when my belly hurts. It’s that feeling that
I trust.
In my mind, I transport him to imagine myself playing that character. When
I read a script I have to really enjoy it. You never fully regret those
instincts.
It’s like when you connect with something emotionally. ”
"I never look Back"
So we come to the conclusion that all his characters have some traits
in common. “You know what? I never look back, and this is something
personal, but I do believe that there is a parallel between Marius in Les
Misérables trying to be a revolutionary, someone who is quite prone to
being distracted by love but at the same time is willing to die for his
cause,
and Tom Hayden from The Chicago Trial of the 7 who was a man who
had integrity and was passionate and fought for the things he believed in.
So I suppose there may also be similarities between a young Stephen
Hawking and Newt Scamander. There are traits in common in all
of them that I don’t really know where they come from ”.
When we talk about the year we are living in, in which it is increasingly
difficult
to find hope, we both let out a nervous laugh. "There must be,” Redmayne
says.
“There is something very nice that Tom Hayden, the character I play in
Sorkin’s
film, said to his former wife, actress Jane Fonda, just the day before she
passed
away. He told her that watching people die for their beliefs changed his
life forever.
In that sense, I also think about what Kennedy Jr. wrote about how democracy
is
messy, tough, and never easy … As is believing in something to fight for. I
look
at history and how they were willing to live their lives with that integrity
to change the world and I realize that somehow that spirit still remains
with us.“
We fell silent thinking about it. "There must be hope.”
"The piano and drawing help me calm my mind."
I tell him about my love for Nick Cave’s blog, The Red Hand, and one of the
posts
that I have liked the most in recent weeks. In it, the singer affirms that
his response
to a crisis has always been to create, an impulse that has saved him many
times.
For Redmayne, there are two activities that can silence noise: drawing and
playing
the piano. “When you play the piano your concentration is so consumed by
trying
to hit that note that you can’t think of anything else. Similarly, when you
draw
something, the focus is between the paper and what you are trying to
recreate …
There I try to calm my mind.
'Prometheus' by Constantin Brancusi at the Kettle’s Yard Gallery in
Cambridge
(x)
Before saying goodbye, I drop a question that I thought I knew the answer
to, but
failed. What work of art would you save from mass destruction? “How
difficult!
I could name my favorite artists but still couldn’t choose a work. Only one
piece?
Let me think. I am very obsessed with Yves Klein, but I would stick with
work by
Brancusi. There is a sculpture of him, a small head called Prometheus, in
Cambridge’s
Kettle’s Yard, on a dark mahogany piano. The truth is that I find it very …
beautiful ”.
Before leaving, he confesses to me - with a childish and slow voice - that
he would like to direct something one day. We said goodbye, saying that
we will talk about his next project. Next, the first thing I do is open the
Google search engine. "P-r-o-m-e-t-h-e-u-s”. Although Eddie Redmayne
has trouble distinguishing violet from blue, he doesn’t have them when
choosing a good piece. He’s right, that work deserves to be saved.
* The article appears in the November 2020 issue of Esquire magazine
Pictures are my screenshots and edits from the
BTS video
by JuanKr
