Fresh from his nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2025 Golden Globes for the series &quot;The Day of the Jackal&quot;, the Oscar-winning actor for &quot;The Theory of Everything&quot; has played very different roles for twenty years, from the transgender artist in &quot;The Danish Girl&quot; to the activist Tom Hayden in &quot;The Trial of the Chicago 7&quot;, up to the &quot;Fantastic Beasts&quot; saga.

Text by FABIA DI DRUSCO CHARLIE GRAY Photography Styling DAVID BRADSHAW

A Cambridge graduate in art history, <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/culture/eddie-redmayne-best-movies-to-watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eddie Redmayne</a> , an Oscar winner for "The Theory of Everything" , where he played astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, has played a variety of roles in his nearly twenty-year career, from Monroe's escort in London in "My Week with Marilyn", to Marius in "Les Mis&eacute;rables", from transgender artist Lili Elbe alongside a stunning Alicia Vikander in "The Danish Girl" to Newt Scamander in the "Fantastic Beasts" saga, to the murderous nurse in "The Good Nurse" with Jessica Chastain. We just saw him in the TV series "The Day of the Jackal" , for which he received a nomination at the next Golden Globes .

Cashmere and silk blazer, LORO PIANA; pull, JIL SANDER BY LUCIE AND LUKE MEIER

L'OFFICIEL: What attracted you to "The Day of the Jackal"? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">EDDIE REDMAYNE: I love the idea of being able to play a character for 10 hours, of being able to explore all the different aspects of their personality, especially when they&rsquo;re as enigmatic and multifaceted as this one. One of the things I love about my job is the strange things you learn to prepare for a role. In this case, I spent a lot of time with a sort of military intelligence specialist. He taught me different techniques of using car mirrors and shop windows to see if you&rsquo;re being followed or not. We did exercises in central London where he would send me WhatsApp photos of people I had to follow and people I had to avoid. He taught me a lot about self-defense using phones, how to disappear while still being in plain sight. And he taught me the art of sniping, the intricacies of the trade, at Bisley, a shooting range outside London. Then there was the language thing. I don&rsquo;t speak German or French, so I had to learn a bit of both. LO: You started acting almost 20 years ago. What are the roles that defined your career? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: For many years, when you start acting, you&rsquo;re just trying to get a job. And if you&rsquo;re lucky enough to get a job, you take it and go do it. That changed for me when I did &ldquo;The Theory of Everything.&rdquo; The fact that the director, James Marsh, told me right away that the film would, in a way, live or die by my performance, gave me the confidence to ask for what I needed. So I worked with a coach to figure out how I should move, with another coach to figure out how I should speak. I asked for four months to prepare. From that point on, and after the success of the film, it defined the method with which I approach my roles.

Suit, linen shirt and loafers, ZEGNA

LO: After the Oscar for "The Theory of Everything" you were nominated for an Oscar for your next film, "The Danish Girl," where you played the painter Lili Elbe, the first person to undergo gender reassignment surgery. I read in an interview that you would no longer accept the role today. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I wouldn&rsquo;t take the part today, because while in an ideal world actors should be able to play anything, in reality there are entire communities and people who have never had the chance to sit down at the gaming table and play their game. So, until there is a more level playing field, I think it&rsquo;s important to be careful about the roles you take on.

«Not having attended drama school, I have always absorbed like a sponge the way other actors work».

LO: Which directors have you worked with that you have a special relationship with? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: Tom Hooper has directed me three times, in a TV series about Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren in the lead role, one of my first jobs, then in "Les Mis&eacute;rables" and in "The Danish Girl". Working with the same person, with a great mutual trust, makes everything go faster. But one of the directors who has inspired me the most is the Danish director Tobias Lindholm, who directed me in "The Good Nurse". He is a writer and a director with such a specific vision of the world that I really liked.
LO: Which directors have you never worked with but would like to? ER: Many. Charlie Kaufman ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). Paul Thomas Anderson, Luca Guadagnino, Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine," "The Place Before the Pines"). I could go on...
LO: Let&rsquo;s go back in time. When did you start wanting to be an actor? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I loved music from a very young age. I don't come from an artistic family, but I loved music and songs. My parents used to take me to the theatre a lot and I remember once, after seeing a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I went on a sort of backstage tour of the National Theatre in London and was completely seduced by it. Then, when I was about 10, I got cast in a production of Oliver, the musical, and found myself ditching my maths lessons at school to get on the tube to the London Palladium, one of our most famous theatres, and get paid to do something I was passionate about. It never occurred to me at that age that this could be a real career possibility and I'm still amazed to this day that it actually has.

Wool blazer, THOM BROWNE; sweater, JIL SANDER BY LUCIE AND LUKE MEIER; trousers, MIU MIU; boots, PRADA; duffel bag, PIERRE HARDY

LO: You continue to alternate between cinema and theater. What do you particularly like about the on-stage experience? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: One of the things I love about theater is that with acting, you can never get it right, it's... it's always... you're throwing something out into the ether and you're trying to... it's like trying to stop a butterfly, it's almost impossible, but the great thing about theater is that you can go back and try again every night. I just did "Cabaret" in New York for almost six months and people were like, "How can you do the same thing over and over again?" The answer is you have a different audience every night.

“Acting is like trying to stop a butterfly, it’s impossible, but the great thing about theater is that you can try every night.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Because it&#39;s live, everything is alive, and in motion, and incoherent and you always respond to the specificity of that moment and the connection that is created with the audience is always different. But this search for something, I would say the search for perfection with the knowledge that you will not get there, is the trigger for my addiction to theater. And then in theater you also have control of your own performance, while in cinema and television you recite your own version, but essentially the result is the fruit of a dance with the editor and the director and many other people.

Ribbed V-neck and trousers, FERRAGAMO

LO: Is there a role you would like to do and have been thinking about for a long time? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: You know, I don't have an answer to that question, I like to be challenged and I find it more interesting when other people see in me something they think I could be capable of. When I read a script I choose instinctively, I have to feel that feeling in my stomach that makes me say: I have to do it.
LO: Have you ever turned down a role and regretted it later? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: No, not really. I&rsquo;ve been very lucky in that sense. There have been things that I couldn&rsquo;t do because of timing, but when they&rsquo;re very successful, I always think that I wouldn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same success. Especially in film and television, you have to have an alchemy of words, performance, direction, editing and a certain moment in time. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">And if you change any of those components, it doesn&rsquo;t always end up the same.
LO: Are there any actors you admire and who have been a role model for you in some way? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: Over the years, not having gone to drama school, I have always been aware that I was doing something I wasn't fully qualified to do. So I have always soaked up like a sponge the way other actors work. One of the most exciting experiences in that respect was Aaron Sorkin's film "The Trial of the Chicago 7", with a cast of actors of every genre, method and style - Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton. And because most of the film was set in a courtroom, it was almost like watching them in a theatre. I like to watch not just how people work, but how they behave as human beings, how they try to manage the strange work-life balance of being an actor. And I'm lucky that a lot of the British actors I started out with, and consider friends, are still working with. We find ourselves talking less about work and more about life, about how to live as normal and happy a life as possible, despite the strangeness and eccentricity of our profession.

Cashmere turtleneck, PAUL & SHARK; bag, PRADA

LO: What do you like to do when you are not on set or on stage? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I was away for a year and a half, I was in Budapest and Croatia for the filming of "The Day of the Jackal" and then I was in New York. Now that I'm back home, in London, with my family, it's the everyday things that I love. Taking the kids to school, playing tennis together. As a family we like to do sports, go to museums. I like to paint. I play the piano, not particularly well, but I like it a lot. I like to cook. In short, I like to be a husband and a father.
LO: What do you paint? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: Postcards. I use, I tend to use, watercolor and I like to paint postcards because they are small, fast, and it doesn't matter if the end result is a disaster.
LO: You&rsquo;ve always lived in London, I think. What do you love about living in London? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I love this city. When I go away for a long time, it gives me an incredible thrill to come home. I love the theatres, we have amazing art galleries. I love how the South Bank has changed. You can walk along the Thames, past the National Theatre, to the Globe Theatre and St Paul's. I lived in Borough, where the food market is. I think traditionally the English had a bad reputation for food, but London has improved so much and there are some fantastic restaurants.
LO: How has being a father changed you? ER: I think you become much more aware of the passage of time and, for me, you desperately try to be present in the moment that you&rsquo;re living in. Especially with my work, which is a sort of nomadic circus-like existence where you can go away for long periods of time. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">

Coat and boots, PRADA; striped polo and trousers, DOLCE & GABBANA; belt, VERSACE; duffel bag, PIERRE HARDY; suitcase, GLOBETROTTER

LO: What is your relationship with fashion? I remember you at the Burberry shows during the Christopher Bailey era, a campaign with Cara Delevingne... While now Harry Lambert, Harry Styles' stylist, follows you. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I like clothes. One of the things that attracted me to <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">The Day of the Jackal is that the character is very particular about his style, he&rsquo;s a bit of a peacock. Talking to Natalie Humphries, the costume designer, it became clear how important it was that he changed every time you saw him. And I suppose some of his tastes coincided with mine. I&rsquo;m thinking of Savile Row tailoring, like Drakes, I&rsquo;m thinking of a beautiful pair of sunglasses, by Jacques Marie Mage (a Japanese brand, ed.). In real life I like to experiment on the red carpet. The older I get, the more I realise that it&rsquo;s a moment of pure theatre. And it&rsquo;s great fun to be able to play with it and have the opportunity to meet amazing designers. Whether it&rsquo;s Sarah Burton , who I&rsquo;ve known for years, and who&rsquo;s a good friend, or Alessandro Michele from Valentino .

Wool hoodie with striped sweater, VALENTINO; glasses, RAY-BAN

LO: Let's talk about music. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: I play piano and bad guitar. I sang at Cambridge, I had a choir scholarship. So it was very classical. My voice was never strong enough to sing professionally, but I loved it and still love it, I found the challenge of doing months of "Cabaret" performances in London and NY stimulating, even though it took a lot of physical and vocal preparation. I was seeing the ENT regularly, and I ended up on steroids and all that, but I managed to get through the tour without cancelling too many gigs. LO: Who is your favorite band or singer at the moment? <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">ER: We went to a concert at Wembley a couple of days ago by a band I love, Ezra Collective. I also love Celeste, who has one of the most unique and beautiful voices I've ever heard. She wrote "Hear My Voice", for "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (where Redmayne played the activist and future senator, as well as Jane Fonda's second husband, Tom Hayden, ed.) and "This Is Who I Am" for "The Day of the Jackal" which I find fascinating. Her voice is infused with life, strength and fragility, it's really fantastic.

Suede blazer, sweater, trousers and shoes, GIORGIO ARMANI; socks, TURNBULL AND ASSER; duffel bag, TOM FORD

GROOMING Petra Sellge @THE WALL GROUP PRODUCER Cezar Grief LOCATION Repton Boxing Club, London

Eddie Redmayne: "Acting is like trying to stop a butterfly"

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