Eddie Redmayne reflects on 'The Danish Girl' role: 'I think it was a mistake'
Eddie Redmayne is a straight, cisgender actor, and he portrayed Danish transgender painter Lili Elbe in the 2015 film The Danish Girl.
Even though Redmayne earned an Oscar nomination for best actor because of how well he played Elbe, he told The Sunday Times (h/t People) that he "wouldn't take it on now."
"I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake," the 39-year-old said, later adding, "The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don't have a chair at the table," he said. "There must be a leveling. Otherwise, we are going to carry on having these debates."
Directed by Tom Hooper and adapted from David Ebershoff's novel by the same name, The Danish Girl told the fictionalized love story between Elbe and fellow artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) as Elbe undergoes the world's first documented sex reassignment surgery (h/t Britannica).
Redmayne was coming off of accepting an Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything at the 87th Academy Awards in February 2015 when The Danish Girl premiered later that year.
Around its November release, Redmayne said during a sit-down interview with TODAY that playing Elbe "was a gift."
"I met many women from the trans community who were sensationally generous and kind," he said then, describing his preparation for the role. "Almost everyone would start the conversation going, 'There is no question I won't answer.' The transparency and the need to educate me by opening their hearts was amazing."
Vikander, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Gerda, previously commented to Insider in August about the backlash over Redmayne's casting.
"I totally understand the criticism that has been out there because we need to make change and we need to make sure that trans men and women actually get a foot in and get work," she told the outlet. "My only concern is that we may need to get to a point in the end where we have trans women and men playing cis characters."
Back in 2015, Hooper commented on the issue to Slate: "I worked very hard to audition and meet trans actors in London where our film was based, and I was pleased that a couple of roles in the film, small roles, are trans, one by a trans actress called Rebecca Root, and one by a trans actor. And they’re playing cisgender roles. I sort of felt that I did do outreach into the community of actors in London, and I like the fact that you can cast trans actors to play cis roles, and I hope the world will evolve to a point where the flow can be both ways. I think the problem now is [the lack of] equality of opportunity for trans actors to play cis and trans roles, and until the industry evolves to break those barriers down I think the issue will remain."
Currently, Redmayne is playing Emcee in the West End theatre revival of Cabaret and expected to star next year on the big screen in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore as well as The Good Nurse.
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