Eddie Redmaye

Eddie Redmayne says playing a transgender woman in ‘The Danish Girl’ was a ‘mistake’. Image via Twitter @emstilinskii

Eddie Redmayne says his trans role in ‘The Danish Girl’ was a ‘mistake’

British actor Eddie Redmayne says playing a transgender woman in ‘The Danish Girl’ was a ‘mistake’ and he would not accept the role now.

Eddie Redmaye

Eddie Redmayne says playing a transgender woman in ‘The Danish Girl’ was a ‘mistake’. Image via Twitter @emstilinskii

English actor Eddie Redmayne played Lil Elbe in the 2015 film The Danish Girl. Elbe was one of the first people in history to have gender reassignment surgery. Redmayne’s role caused controversy with many noting that a transgender woman should have played the role instead of him. The successful actor admits that taking on the role was a “mistake”. 

ALSO READ: Throwback Thursday: Heath Ledger vs ‘Brokeback Mountain’ critics [watch]

EDDIE REDMAYNE IN ‘THE DANISH GIRL’

The Danish Girl is a biographical romantic drama that is based on David Ebershoff’s novel of the same name. The film follows Lil Elbe and her partner Gerda Wegener as they navigate Elbe’s life as a transgender pioneer. 

The film received backlash for a straight cisgender male (Eddie Redmayne) playing the role of a transgender woman (Lil Elbe). 

Speaking on the backlash in 2015, Redmayne’s co-star Alicia Vikander says she thinks he did a “wonderful job” in the role. 

“I totally understand the criticism that has been out there, because we need to make a change and we need to make sure that trans men and women actually get a foot in and get work,” she told Business Insider.

EDDIE REDMAYNE SAYS HE WOULDN’T ACCEPT THE ROLE NOW

Although Eddie Redmayne received an Oscar nomination in 2015 for his role as Lil Elba in The Danish Girl, he says it’s a role he wouldn’t take on now. 

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he mentioned that he had the best intentions while playing the role but he wouldn’t do it now. The 39-year-old actor said it was “a mistake”.

“The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table.”

“There must be a levelling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.” 

ALSO READ: ‘I’m tired of humans’: Demi Lovato would ‘absolutely’ date an ET [watch]

‘CABARET’

Eddie Redmayne will be starring in a new staging of Cabaret alongside Jessie Buckley. The stage production follows the like of Sally Bowles, (Jessie Buckley) who performs at the Kit Kat Klub in the 1930s in Berlin. Redmayne will be playing the role of Emcee. 

Other stars who are set to feature in the state production are Omari Douglas, Liza Sadovy, Elliot Levey, Stewart Clarke and Anna-Jane Casey. 

Preview performances of Carabert are currently showing at the Playhouse Theatre in London until 10 December 2021.