Eddie Redmayne Talks New Transgender Role

Eddie Redmayne reccently sat down for an interview with Out magazine, where he talked about his role as a transgender woman in the upcoming film The Danish Girl. The magazine quotes him as follows:

"I knew nothing about it, going in. It felt like it was a piece about authenticity and love and the courage it takes to be yourself...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.

I was in New York when the [Caitlyn Jenner] Vanity Fair cover came out, and I was reading The New York Times and all of the op-ed pieces that were being written about it. The dialogue was so rich and full, with everyone having opinions. Then I came back and saw the trailer for the film. I absolutely salute [Caitlyn's] courage. Hers is a very specific story, and it’s one that shouldn’t stand for everybody’s. But it is amazing what’s she gone through and how she’s done it. 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.”

Read the full interview at Out.