Eddie Redmayne reveals his ‘hilarious’ audition for ‘Star Wars’
Eddie Redmayne is about to dominate cinemas in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but he nearly had a major part in another beloved franchise.
He’s admitted in the past that he auditioned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but now the actor has revealed which part he auditioned for – and just how badly it went.
After Redmayne first admitted that he once tested for a villainous part in Episode VII, fans assumed it had been for General Hux – eventually played by Domhnall Gleeson.
That’s because the two of them have often been up for the same parts in the past, most notably Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter films – a part Gleeson won in the end.
It turns out we were all wrong though – Redmayne was really in the running for Kylo Ren, the big bad eventually played by Girls star Adam Driver.
“So, I was going for, I think, for Adam Driver,” the actor told Uproxx. “They gave me like a Star Trek scene – or like something from Pride and Prejudice. It was one of those films.
“With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.
That was really a hilarious moment. Because it was Nina Gold, who I have to thank a lot because she’s cast me in several films.
“And she was just sitting there and I was trying again and again with different versions of my kind of “koohh paaaah” [Darth Vader breathing sound] voice. And after like ten shots she’s like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No.’”
Still, things have worked out alright for the star, who will star in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them later this month.
He’s joined in the film by out actor Ezra Miller, who will play The Flash in next year’s Justice League.
Even though the film isn’t out yet, talk has already turned to the sequel. That film just cast Johnny Depp in a part that some hope will be a younger Dumbledore’s gay lover.
Redmayne’s last major role was as trans woman Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, for which he earned an Oscar nomination despite criticism from some corners for playing a trans role as a cisgender man.
