The role of the British physicist Stephen Hawking paid Eddie Redmayne (33), the Oscar for Best Actor in 'The Theory of Everything', this past Sunday at the Dolby Theatre, in Hollywood, Los Angeles. His first nomination was celebrated on stage dedicating the award to all patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that is attacking the body, but not Stephen Hawking's mind. He defeated Hollywood giants, Michael Keaton (Birdman), Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) and Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), who were also nominated for the award.
Visibly moved, Redmayne dedicated the statue to Stephen Hawking. "I'm aware that I'm very, very lucky. It belongs to people around the world who fight against sclerosis", said the actor, before promising that it would be the guardian of the statue, which should be awarded to Hawking.
Although he stand out, precisely because he portrayed the character (and the disease), Redmayne said he did not want the focus to stay on the physical part. "I did not want the film to be about the physicality, I wanted this to be about the history and not the disease," he said in the press room.
Redmanye had an impressive performance, especially from the time when the degenerative disease is diagnosed.
The fact that he played a real person and specially being a role with disabilities could be decisive factors for the award, but its undeniable the actor talent. Never a film required this much preparation, as living the real character that inspires 'The Theory of Everything': the actor had to invest in body language lessons and learned to better put his voice, mainly to interpret the physical after the discovery of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
In addition of the Oscar for best actor, he also had taken the prize of the US Screen Actors Guild, where he dedicated his win to those such as Professor Hawking who live with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Another recent distinction won by Redmayne was the Bafta, considered the British Oscar.
Before doing the 'The Theory of Everything', he was a relatively low-key curriculum actor.
In Cinema, his best known works, in roles that did not make it him a celebrity, had been in 'The Good Shepherd' (2006), 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' (2007), 'Seven days with Marilyn' (2011) and 'Les Miserables' (2012).
Among the upcoming projects, Redmayne can be seen in a completely different role of 'The Theory of Everything', in the science fiction film 'The Jupiter Destination', by brothers Andy and Lana Wachowski (the same as 'Matrix'), and in 'The Danish Girl' of Tom Hooper, on the life of Danish painter Einar Wegener, who underwent a sex change surgery.