What was your view of Charlie Cullen going into this when you played him?
The thing that she really made a point of reaffirming was, this was two different human beings.
Once was in the restaurant, in a diner, and then once was in the interrogation room.
Eddie Redmayne at Contenders Film: Los Angeles in NovemberAlberto Rodriguez/Deadline via Getty Images
More tricky was finding this other side, this furious, arrogant side to him.
That was very disconcerting.
That was an insight into this more violent side of him, which is sort of touched on.
Eddie Redmayne as Charlie CullenJoJo Whilden / Netflix
He [handcuffed] my hand to the desk.
Even though the film doesnt lean into his biography that there was this trauma.
Tobias talks about this most beautifully.
When I read the script I was like, why did he do it?
Its our way of othering people.
Human beings arent that simple.
Thats a way of making ourselves feel safe somehow.
With Charlie, we dont know why.
I dont believe he knows why.
There was something about exposing the hypocrisies or the failings…his fury at the system.
Im not saying that was my motivation, but it was definitely an insight.
You know I did it.
Im giving you every opportunity for you to admit that you know I did it.
Are you going to admit it?
Youre not going to admit it.
It was like it was a sort of challenge in some ways to them.
That felt like part of it was a fury at the system.
We see this in schools, with clergy, and it always rears up because these people dont change.
It was then that he went to train to be a nurse.
Its an incredibly hard job being a nurse, and its underappreciated and underpaid.
DEADLINE:Cullen becomes invaluable to Jessica Chastains Amy Loughren character.
He helps her shield her heart condition until she can qualify for benefits and get it fixed.
Serial killers are usually depicted as calculating sociopaths.
Was his motivation to help her, bonding with her kids?
REDMAYNE:I believe that he really adored her and that he found great comfort in her.
I can only take Amys words for it, but the friendship was just strictly real.
One of them had turned into a kind of a stalking and hed become a stalker too.
There was definitely a power in Charlies anonymity.
There are nurses that get energy and the adrenaline rush from saving peoples lives.
They like to be the first person in to say, I saved them.
But he wasnt sending these saline bags in to be there, to be the one to save them.
DEADLINE:Through Netflix, the movie has been watched all over the world.
Have you gotten any input that surprised you?
REDMAYNE:I havent heard from Charlie.
Charles Graeber spent a lot of time with Charlie.
It was never an option for me to be in touch with him.
Everyone has been supportive about the film from the sense its not in any way, fantasizing or glorifying.
Its telling a story that is about a flawed system.
DEADLINE:I gather that the woman she played ran that hospital, after Cullens crimes were discovered.
REDMAYNE:I heard that was true.
DEADLINE:Enough serial killing.
What sparked your decision to be an actor?
I remember being taken on a tour of the National Theatre in London.
DEADLINE:Your grandfather was an engineer.
You dad was in corporate finance.
Your mom ran a relocation service.
All very sensible professions.
How do they respond when you pronounce hey, Im going to be an actor.
They said okay, provided youre doing okay at school, you could go and do that.
Theyre like, where are you going?
Im going to the theatre.
I would go on the tube to the London Palladium, and get to work with Jonathan Pryce.
And my parents would pick me up.
As long as my schoolwork was going okay, they supported me.
And to me its a great example of how to parent.
DEADLINE:Who did you play in Oliver?
Was it a major role?
REDMAYNE:I played Urchin Number 23.
I didnt even make it to be in Fagins gang.
My very important part was called the book boy.
And the book boy comes on, delivers some books and then he leaves.
That was a learning curve.
DEADLINE:Well, you have to learn.
They find stuff from when youre younger but usually theyve sort of pre-warned you that something might be coming.
And James would do a street dance, and James was a very, very good street dancer.
He had the camera on my face as I squirmed.
Total public ritual humiliation.
The other person who was at this school, younger than me, was Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
There was a group of us who emerged from this place in Wickham.
The moment you realized yeah this is it.
REDMAYNE:I always dreamt it, but I also didnt believe that it was possible.
Through that I got an agent and I really felt okay, this is my passion.
Its what I want to do.
DEADLINE:You came up with some interesting young actors.
Who were your audition buddies?
Fortunately, that group of actors, weve all been really lucky, really lucky.
Tom Sturridge, whos in theSandman, Will Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, Ben Wishaw, Jamie Dornan.
DEADLINE:How did you make ends meet in those lean years, between auditions?
Going from theater to film where I had no training was challenging.
I went on auditions for six years and I would get no sort of feedback and definitely no recalls.
Because I was projecting to the back of the stalls.
DEADLINE: Who among your pals hit first and how did that make you feel?
REDMAYNE:The first person was Charlie Cox, a wonderful actor.
He didThe Merchant of Venicewith Al Pacino, and he then didCasanovawith Heath Ledger.
He was living in Venice for like a year.
I was like, you bastard, you get to live in Venice for a year!
We all learned as we went through ups and downs and thats the nature of this industry.
It is a competitive business but with this group we were lucky enough that were all still doing it.
An underrated classic to me.
Directed byRobert De Niro.
Whats it like to audition for an actor you probably revered?
REDMAYNE:An amazing moment.
It was a process.
I just want to meet you.
Shes an amazing, amazing woman who died very recently called Amanda Mackey.
I have a huge amount to thank her for.
Ill never forget it.
It was on Oxford Street and she then called me in the following day.
I went into see Robert De Niro and he looked at me and he gestured toward his hair.
I was like, what?
He goes, come back this afternoon.
I was passing these extraordinary British actors.
You bring up the lift and its like oh my God, its you.
I went down to Oxford Street spun out after having just met Robert De Niro.
Went and bought myself a comb, came back later that afternoon and was waiting outside to meet him.
I said to the assistant, who is in there?
They were like well, Bob is in there.
Amanda is in there and Leo.
I was like Leonardo DiCaprio?
At the time Leonardo DiCaprio was such a thing.
For the part that Matt Damon eventually played.
Anyway, two minutes later I was doing this scene with Leonardo DiCaprio playing my dad.
Like, I was having a breakdown into his armpit and with Bob De Niro giving me direction.
I had a full-on time-out-of-body experience.
I was just like looking down on this scene like, what the f*ck?
Just go straight back in the scene.
So, there were things that I learned on that film that I will never forget.
I got the call from her and my legs sort of buckled.
I remember I was standing next to a building and I was like oh my.
So, thats the same way when I was cast inSavage Grace.
I was playing Julianne Moores son and I had freckles.
There is moments in my career where things like that have been really useful.
Then they see it and go, now I get it.
He does a lot with an economy of movement.
What do you learn when that guy is directing you?
DEADLINE:You won your Oscar playing Stephen Hawking alongside Felicity Jones inThe Theory of Everything.
Such a complex figure who became famous when he was a big brain in an incapacitated body.
What was the biggest challenge finding your way into this skin of that man?
The answer is the expression is in the minutiae but there were interesting things.
I mean, that whole film was an extraordinary experience.
The four months beforehand I spent going to motor neuron clinics.
For some people with motor neuron disease, there can be a smile that comes with it.
I was trying to capture that, really.
DEADLINE:Did you meet him to prepare for this role or when did you meet him?
Her family, her children were all wonderful and were also part of the process.
I only met Stephen late into it.
It was going to be like, I look forward to seeing it.
And Ill never forget the moment when he came to see the film.
I said, hey Stephen.
Hope you enjoy it.
So, that economy was interesting.
If its otherwise, can we just leave it at otherwise?
DEADLINE:He shed a tear and he said, at times I thought he was me.
What did that mean to you?
REDMAYNE:It meant a lot.
That part was so much fear.
I was like, oh, so youre screwed if you dont win an Oscar basically.
You failed if you havent.
Mixed with the fact it was Stephen.
So, hearing that he approved was everything.
You got your franchise withFantastic Beasts.
It seemed like every Brit actor got a role in Harry Potter films.
REDMAYNE:This is an open wound.
I dont even think it was the casting director.
Not even a sniff for me.
I had to play the long game there.
DEADLINE: And you gotFantastic Beasts.
You got a couple young ones.
REDMAYNE:A son and a daughter.
DEADLINE:What was it like to make a movie they could see?
And the question has come up.
Daddy, youre a wizard?
That is your parenting dilemma, which is, do you lie to your children?
I hope they dont see this.
So, I answered yes.
They said, well do some magic.
I have one magic trick.
I can make a penny disappear and so I did that and, okay.
I showed them the trailer.
They said, you made that building disappear.
I said, is it bedtime already?
My daughter already finds me very embarrassing.
She hasnt seen half my films.
DEADLINE:Have they seen any?
I was like, yes, yo.
Id never done like a voice performance before.
They were and they were like no.
This is the voice of Thomas.
Suddenly I went from talking like this to yeah my name is Thomas.
Then to have the British press going Redmayne follows upTheory of Everythingsuccess with a straight to DVD.
DEADLINE: Warner Bros is under new management and particularly blockbuster hungry.
Is there more Newt for you?
REDMAYNE:Thats not a question for me, but rather David Heyman, JK Rowling and David Yates.
Ive had an amazing time inhabiting Newt.
But I dont know.
DEADLINE:One last one for me.The Aeronauts.
You reteamed with Felicity Jones.
I got to say I hate heights and watched that one convulsed.
Any near-death experiences to share?
They re-created one of these 19th century balloons, this extraordinary helium balloon.
They have one man who knows how to fly it.
Our first day of shooting Felicity and I are in costume.
Theyre coming on helicopters and drones to film us, and we go up and we shoot the scenes.
So, were throwing out the bags and we rise a bit, we miss the trees.
He goes, youve thrown out all the bags!
We said I know weve thrown out all the bags.
You f*cking told us to throw out all the bags.
Hes like, I didnt mean all the bags.
So, basically we had lost any capacity now to rise again.
We smash to the ground.
Were in our 19th century costumes.
Felicitys head smacks and hits this bar and theres this silence.
I just remember total shock and hearing Felicity go, Im not sure I can move my neck.
Turned out she was totally fine.
Even in the 19th century when they were doing it all the time people died a lot.
Were like, how on earth did we allow them to let us go in that thing?
It was exactly the same technology from the 19th century.
It just happened that the pilots arent as versed in it as they are now.
So, that was the closest to death Ive come.
