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Eddie Redmayne’s Transition From Professor Hawking’s Logical World To J.K. Rowling’s Magical World

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 06:03 PST, Oct 27, 2016

Eddie Redmayne is a highly accomplished actor who admits that he doesn’t rely too much on his own imagination while acting. So, it’s natural for the Oscar-winning actor to prepare for his movie roles exhaustively by exploring various aspects of his on-screen characters.

Previously, the actor conducted extensive research while playing the Oscar-winning role of physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. While preparing for his famous role, Eddie Redmayne not only interacted with world-renowned Professor Hawking, he also spent several months visiting medical centers to learn as much as possible about the motor neuron disease that confined the brilliant physicist to a wheelchair.

The condition turned out to be so debilitating for Stephen Hawking that the brilliant scientist must rely on a computerized speech synthesizer for communication. Being a true artist, Eddie Redmayne went to extreme lengths and immersed himself in Stephen Hawking’s scientific world: a world that’s filled with logic and reasoning.

The actor admitted earlier that he felt awkward discussing Sun Signs with Professor Hawking because, during their conversation, the physicist had amicably reminded The Danish Girl actor of his scientific background. However, Eddie Redmayne portrayed Stephen Hawking to perfection, and when he won the Academy Award for his fantastic performance, he was congratulated by the great scientist himself.

Now, Eddie Redmayne has made the transition from Professor Hawking’s logical world to J.K. Rowling’s magical world by playing Newt Scamander, the magizoologist in J.K. Rowling’s newest movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the movie plot revolves around the events that unfold after mystical creatures escape from Newt Scamander’s briefcase during his New York trip.

Newt must not only track and put the leash on the havoc-wrecking beasts, but he also must deal with other non-magical characters who are striving to eradicate the wizards. The Bowtruckle, the Swooping Evil, the Demiguise, and the Niffler are some of the mystical creatures that feature in the movie.

Staying true to his perfectionist nature and to better understand his scenes, the Savage Grace actor asked an animator to try to get into character as one of the creatures and act out the fictional beast’s mannerisms, simply so that Eddie Redmayne could get a proper feel for the character and thus perform at his best. The actor believed he’d be able to portray his interactions with the CGI characters more effectively by studying intricate details about his scenes. According to Time magazine, Eddie Redmayne revealed that he feels a little uncomfortable acting in front of a green screen because he’s unable to comprehend the entire scene that features animated characters.

“My fear was doing a lot of green screen because I have quite a dodgy imagination.”

Featuring in J.K. Rowling’s fantasy film must have been an exciting experience for Eddie Redmayne who’s a huge fan of the books and movies in the Harry Potter franchise. Recently, the actor’s excitement heightened to a new level when he tried to discover his Patronus during a visit to Pottermore, the entertainment company responsible for publishing digital content related to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe on an e-commerce website.

In J.K. Rowling’s magical world, a Patronus is a mystical illusion conjured up by a wizard to project an image of an animal that closely matches the wizard’s alter ego. While fighting dark creatures, Harry Potter has conjured a mystical stag that fights against evil beings.

Pottermore helped Eddie Redmayne discover his Patronus by revealing that a Basset Hound is the animal that best represents his Patronus. According to USA Today, Eddie Redmayne revealed that he tried twice to discover his perfect Patronus and the answer to both his attempts revealed the same result.

“Both times [during the Patronus test] I got the same Patronus. The people from Pottermore told me that was incredibly rare because of the number of algorithms it takes to choose the Patronus. So, I must really be that thing.”

[Featured Image by Eric Charbonneau/AP Images]

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