Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hooper On For ‘The Danish Girl’
Director Tom Hooper and rising star Eddie Redmayne have signed on for period drama The Danish Girl.
The two Brits worked together on the 2012 musical epic Les Miserables, and are reuniting once more for this adaptation of David Ebershoff‘s novel of the same name. Published in 2000, the story is a fictionalised account of the life of Danish artist Lili Elbe, born Einar Mogens Wegener, who was one of the first people to ever undergo sex reassignment surgery in 1930.
Redmayne is set to portray the artist for what is sure to be his most challenging role to date, after appearing in the likes of My Week With Marilyn, TV series Birdsong and the aforementioned Les Mis as hopeless romantic Marius.
He will also star in the upcoming sci-fi Jupiter Ascending, the latest project from Matrix-directing duo Andy and Lana Wachowski.
Hooper, who won the Academy Award for Best Director in 2011 for The King’s Speech, is reteaming with Working Title‘s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan on production duties.
The Danish Girl has been a long-gestating project, with Lucinda Coxon having written a first draft of the screenplay back in 2009. Swedish directors Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In) and Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) were both previously attached to direct before dropping out to work on other projects, while actresses Rachel Weisz and Marion Cotillard were also considered for the role of Gerda Wegener, Elbe’s wife and fellow artist.
Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Gwyneth Paltrow were all in the running for Lili Elbe at different stages as well, before numerous delays and production changes saw them leave the project.
The Danish Girl is due to go into pre-production soon.
