Eddie Redmayne, who stars as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, recently opened up to Out magazine about what he’s learned about transgender people between now and when he was first cast for the role. The interview is lengthy, delving into his early acting career and going over his thoughts on playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
To his credit, Redmayne did his homework. He met with various famous trans people including activist and writer Paris Lees, former model April Ashley, and even Lana Wachowski, who directed him in Jupiter Ascending. The meetings were all taken in earnest, as an attempt to learn more about various trans people’s experiences. He said:
People were so kind and generous with their experience, but also so open. Virtually all of the trans men and women I met would say, ‘Ask me anything.’ They know that need for cisgender people to be educated. I felt like, I’m being given this extraordinary experience of being able to play this woman, but with that comes this responsibility of not only educating myself but hopefully using that to educate [an audience]. Gosh, it’s delicate. And complicated.
Cognizant of just how complicated the situation really is, he tried his best to frame his work just as he would any other role. Redmayne’s approach to playing Elbe was similar to how he approached playing Hawking. Paris Lees, whom Redmayne spoke with during his preparation for The Danish Girl, shared how the actor approached the controversy:
I asked him what he thought of people criticizing him for playing a trans woman. He said, ‘Look, I’ve just played a man in his 50s with motor neuron disease. I’m acting.’ I found that hard to argue with, and it really helped with my thinking on the subject.
Lees even offers her vote of confidence, which means a lot, as she’s often a vocal, outspoken critic of when movies and media screw up trans representation. She said:
As a trans woman, I don’t think that if and when they make a biopic of my life I would want a cisgender man playing me. Politically, it makes me groan. But if anybody’s going to do this justice, then I’m happy it’s Eddie. We had a good chat about everything.
Redmayne has learned a lot in the intervening time between the announcement of his casting and now. He shared an example:
My greatest ignorance when I started was that gender and sexuality were related. And that’s one of the key things I want to hammer home to the world: You can be gay or straight, trans man or woman, and those two things are not necessarily aligned.
His portrayal of Elbe has yet to be seen, as The Danish Girl doesn’t release until November 21st. Only time will really tell how he’s handled the role, and how much he’s learned.
Hollywood’s obsession with casting cis people in trans roles is still a major problem. Even speaking just in terms of representation, it’s hard for trans people to have their gender recognized. Casting like this in major motion picture releases are a reinforcement of status quo. Even if they try to be subversive, it often falls flat and fans the flames. Personally speaking, I remain disheartened by Hollywood’s dedication to continually go about casting trans roles this way, but I have some hope for this movie.
Check out the full Out magazine interview for more details.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
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