If the title of this blog post sounds a bit like the convoluted title of a children’s story, then it mirrors the success story that is Eddie Redmayne’s career.
With a few notable appearances under his belt (Les Miserables, My Week With Marilyn), Redmayne had yet to really make the big time, but now he’s raking in the award nominations and moving up the ladder, thanks to his performance in The Theory of Everything.
I think it’s fair to say his stock is about to skyrocket, so it comes as no huge surprise that he’s received a shout-out in the Golden Globe nominations for best actor in a drama.
The forthcoming biopic tells the story of Stephen Hawking’s first marriage and the complications of dealing with his debilitating motor neuron disease, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 21.
If he was still on the sidelines before, then Redmayne’s performance in The Theory of Everything has "moved him into the acting elite," says Guardian film critic Andrew Pulver.
"It helps he’s playing a character we instinctively like and warm to, and there of course has been a history of actors playing disabled characters doing well at awards time," Pulver writes. "But it’s an excellent performance, and there’s no doubt he belongs in the bracket."
His fellow Guardian critic Catherine Shoard called Redmayne’s portrayal of the eminent physicist "an astonishing, genuinely visceral performance which bears comparison with Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot." High praise indeed.
Writing in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers couldn’t say enough good things about the actor either. "Hawking is a role that demands miracles of an actor. And Eddie Redmayne, in a landmark performance, delivers them," he gushes.
Travers adds praise for Eddie’s co-star as well: "He's matched by Felicity Jones, who is simply sensational as Hawking's blunt, determined wife," culminating in what he calls "two of the year's best and most fearless acting feats." Wowsers.
The Theory of Everything is out now, so we’ll be able to see for ourselves what all the fuss is about.
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