Eddie Redmayne and Rami Malek Talk Everything from Acting Memories to Reality Television

Though we know him best as lovable Hufflepuff Newt Scamander, Eddie Redmayne has stepped expertly into more than his fair share of evocative, transformative roles, portraying fascinating characters from Stephen Hawking to Marius Pontmercy, Lili Elbe, Balem Abrasax, and more. Recently, Redmayne sat down with Rami Malek, another talented actor, in a charismatic interview.

Focusing first on the film industry, Malek, who had met Redmayne only briefly, was eager to compliment his performance in The Theory of Everything, which he described as “so enchanting, so deep, so wonderful, and so inspiring.” In an unlikely similarity between two vastly different roles, both Malek and Redmayne praised their dance and movement teachers for their respective portrayals of Freddie Mercury and Stephen Hawking.

Moving on to reflect upon first auditions, Malek recalled a moment of cheek that scored him a three-line part in popular television show Gilmore Girls, while Redmayne remembered early lessons of the importance of following stage directions in his small role as a book boy in the West End musical Oliver.

The conversation then turned to pop culture as Malek and Redmayne talked all things karaoke and reality television, with Redmayne revealing a much-loved guilty pleasure in The Hills, a reality show set in Los Angeles, California.

Though both actors are incredibly skilled entertainers, hidden talents are always a juicy topic. Redmayne proudly spoke of his perpetual earliness, a direct juxtaposition against his wife’s penchant for lateness.

When I first went on holiday with my wife, before we were married, we were going to Italy and it was agreed that we would meet on the plane because I knew that our burgeoning relationship would not last because she’s the antithesis [of me]. She’s sensationally late all the time. And I’ll never forget, we were flying to Florence and I got on this EasyJet plane and I was sitting in the back surrounded by three Irish monks and a nun and they were like, ‘Ladies and gentleman. I’m afraid this plane can’t take off because there’s one passenger that’s late.’ Then my wife comes in. If we had met in the airport, I think the relationship would have died before we even started. But fortunately, there were some calming Irish monks.

With love in the air, Malek and Redmayne were asked to reflect upon their first kisses, Malek revealing that he had relied on his twin brother’s romantic successes in the absence of his own and Redmayne reflecting on a Hubba Bubba-fuelled game of spin the bottle at a Swedish school disco.

Rounding out the interview on a serious note, Redmayne was asked to share the greatest lesson he learned from his time with and as Stephen Hawking, whose focus on the stars Redmayne found relevance for much closer to home.

Keep looking up. That idea of this world we’re in at the moment, of always looking down and into our phones and kind of insular and tying ourselves in, the idea of looking up was something that Stephen spoke about and I think it’s the most beautiful thing.

Malek and Redmayne’s interview is available in full at www.wmagazine.com.