As Eddie Redmayne prepares to tackle what will arguably be the most challenging role of his career as a transgender activist in The Danish Girl, this year’s Best Actor Oscar winner, 33, opened up to OUT Magazine in the cover of its latest issue about his views on the transgender community.
“People were so kind and generous with their experience, but also so open,” he told the magazine of seeking advice from the trans individuals. “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.”
Redmayne, who will be playing Lili Elbe, one of the first identified transgender women to have received a sex reassignment surgery (in 1930), understood the importance of the role.
“I felt like, I’m being given this extraordinary experience of being able to play this women, but with that comes this responsibility of not only educating myself but hopefully using that to educate [an audience],” the Brit continued. “Gosh, it’s delicate. And complicated.”
As for how he sees himself, Redmayne noted that he does not think in a gendered way.
“I suppose it depends what you think of as masculine and feminine,” the Les Miserables star said. “I was musical, and I was into theater and arts, but I was also into sports, so I had quite a broad spectrum. I can also totally see that other people see a femininity in me.”
Redmayne also commented on newly debuted trans activist Caitlyn Jenner.
“I absolutely salute her courage,” he said. “Hers is a very specific story, and it’s one that shouldn’t stand for everybody’s. But it is amazing what she’s gone through and how she’s done it. It’s a civil rights movement.”
The Danish Girl is set to hit theaters on Nov. 25.
