Eddie Redmayne concedes that he gave "a pretty bad performance" in Jupiter Ascending
Aux Features Eddie Redmayne
Here’s a fun piece of movie trivia: At the same time Eddie Redmayne was winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Theory Of Everything, he had a film in theaters in which he gave what some consider to be the worst performance of the entire year. That film was Jupiter Ascending—a truly bonkers movie in which Redmayne manages to stand out as particularly bonkers. Recently, in an interview with GQ, the actor offered an explanation for his pouty, whispery portrayal of space autocrat Balem Abrasax, which he acknowledges is pretty fucking weird.
“My character had had his larynx ripped out by this wolf man, and so I made the slightly bold choice—which I thought was right—of talking like this,” Redmayne says, putting on the breathy, choked affectation he uses throughout the film. He adds that at the time he thought the voice suited the costume and elaborate sci-fi world of the film, but in retrospect can see that it may have been a bit much. “I won a prize for it for the worst performance of the year,” Redmayne adds, referring to his 2016 Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actor. “So, yeah, it was a pretty bad performance by all accounts.”
To Redmayne’s credit, he seems to be able to laugh off the harsh criticism he’s received for the film, saying that he considers himself to be “a bit of a Marmite actor,” meaning people either like what he does or hate what he does. While he’s still likely going to be asked about Jupiter Ascending for years to come, we’re sure the Oscar statuette sitting on his shelf makes it a little easier to shrug off the hate.
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49 Comments
I disagree, I thought his performance was PERFECTLY NATURALISTIC!
I stand by my statements his performance in Jupiter Ascending was so bad the Academy should revoke his Oscar. That being said there are dozens of other Actors and Actresses which the rule could apply too, I think the hate he gets is just because both happened around the same time. Also since then I’ve enjoyed him as Newt Scamander which was surprising to me. He also seems to be a chill dude so that is as you said a point in his favour.
There are lots of actors/actresses for which the performance they actually won for is so bad they should revoke the statue. WHO HAH!
I can’t agree with that reasoning at all; in fact being able to win awards for best and worst acting within a single year can only be a beautiful thing.
Halle Berry (Oscar for Monster’s Ball, Razzie for Catwoman, which she accepted IN PERSON) agrees with you.
I think that’s bullshit. It was an over-the-top movie and the villain needed to be over-the-top as well. It’s not like if he had channeled Stephen Hawking it would have saved the movie.
Yeah, I always thought singling out Redmayne was a bizzare thing to do in a movie that’s so batshit insane yet defiantly boring.
Fuck that noiseeddie REDMAYNE was the best part of that movie.
Jupiter Ascending was a bonkers movie and if you watched it for anything other than the CGI (or a paycheck) you are insane. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the CGI and Eddie’s ridiculous chewing of the scenery.
I watched it due to loyalty to the Wachowskis. I learned my lesson.
eddie redmayne can suck on lemons. He sucks.
Does he mention how he sounds like Kermit The Frog every time he sang in Les Miserables?
Who wants actors that can sing in a musical? I’m quite looking forward to Russell Crowe’s one-man-show of West Side Story.
Whenever I watch Les Mis, I remind myself that at one point (or maybe even still) Russell Crowe toured with his own band. He sings like he’s trying to tighten his belt buckle up one more notch.
True story: One of the biggest fights my best friend and I have ever had happened when he tried to claim that Crowe was the perfect choice for Javert. It ended with me storming out of his house and sending a wall of text to explain how wrong he was because I didn’t want to look at him.
Being unstoppably drawn to doing something you’re really bad at even though you’re incredibly rich and famous for doing something you’re extremely good at is an oddly endearing quality of Russell’s.
Describing himself as ‘a Marmite actor’ is the most self-aware thing he’s ever said. And I fucking hate Marmite.
As I’m one of five people in the entire world who loved that movie, I thought his performance suited the character.
It’s like the Wachowskis set out to make something like Lynch’s Dune, and by that I mean a mess of a movie that was a beautiful mess.
whoo, fellow fan!
if by bad performance you mean talking very quietly then SUDDENLY TALKING VERY LOUD
Eddie Redmayne sucks in everything he’s been in. He’s one of those British actors that Americans think is great because he happens to have an accent. His performance in Jupiter Ascending isn’t much worse than his performance in those Harry Potter prequels.
I came here to say this. I thought his performance as Hawking was brave and selfless. Then I saw Fantastic Beasts and realized that he just has a series of ticks and affectations that people mistake for acting.
My takeaway from Fantastic Beasts is that he really regrets not auditioning to play the Doctor in 2008 but he wanted to give an homage to Matt Smith regardless.
AKA the Downton Abbey syndrome
That performance…good god that performance. I already didn’t particularly care for him, but seeing him in that movie was excruciating. And then his Newt being impossibly twee and unable to make eye contact just makes my skin crawl.
Al through his Oscar acceptance speech, that “I will harvest this planet… tomorrow!” line that was in all the ads (which were still running) kept playing in my head.
i for one thought it was wonderful to see more villains in big budget sci fi pics taking acting cues from that one aunt in Lost in Yonkers
Oh. See I thought the performance was amazing. He was the only person in the film that seemed to understand he was in this high-camp goofball space opera and was trying to entertain as much as portray his character. Did this really call for some focused Mark Rylance depth? Noooo.The character is a cartoon and he played it like one. One of the only truly fun elements of the movie.It was all intentional, lame he’d turn his back on it. Oh well.
He’d get eviscerated even more if he defended himself. I thought his performance was pretty appropriate for the movie and I enjoyed his scenes.
No he wouldn’t. “That movie was meant to be operatic and fun, and I felt he was a bigger-than-life character that called for something like what you’d see in an old sci-fi serial, or from a comic book. I tried to camp it up as much as possible, it may not have been perfect but it fit what we were trying to do there.”Lol “eviscerated”?
Yeah, eviscerated by the angry nerds of the internet who demand that everything fall in line with their opinion.
Nah. That’s a reach.
Lol “a reach”.
Yes, a reach. No one would care if he sensibly defended his performance. Not a single person. Certainly not “eviscerate.”You said he’d be “eviscerated more if he defended himself” as a reason why he humbly offered that he was bad. Who, though, I wondered, would eviscerate? “Nerds online,” which, I dunno, I don’t think Eddie Redmayne would give the first fuck about if he ever even encountered it, which he would not.To say nothing of the fact that nerds online are much more likely to have enjoyed his performance than not, but whatever.It was a bad take. It happens. Very much a reach for sure. Just stop talking.
Relax Eddie, you’re not hurting for work.
Lol that doesn’t make any sense!You’re probably thinking I’m disagreeing with you on substance but I really don’t care if you agree with Eddie Redmayne that he was bad in this utterly forgettable movie or who would agree with me or him about it, its that nothing you’ve said to me makes any sense. It’s weird.Please stop responding to me. Thanks.
Take a deeeeeep breath, in and out.
Nonsense! He was the only actor in that movie who seem to be aware of what kind of movie he was in and responded accordingly.
the link to the av club review of the movie should have been to: https://film.avclub.com/must-love-dogs-case-file-42-jupiter-ascending-1798282986“With Jupiter Ascending and The Theory Of Everything, Eddie Redmayne has the curious distinction of winning the most prestigious award in acting and giving the year’s worst performance in the same 12-month span.”
I disagree heartily. I thought Redmayne was delightful in the nonsensical bombast of Jupiter Ascending and utterly unbearable in everything else I’ve seen him in. Especially Fantastic Beasts, ugh.
That’s unfair to say Redmayne’s performance was bad in a movie where Sean Bean played a genetically altered half bee hermit mercenary.
I hate Eddie Redmayne. I love Eddie Redmayne’s performance in Jupiter Ass-Ending.
Oh please. Easily the best part of Jupiter Ascending. I only take a seat like this now:
Being a SF fan in general, and a fan of Cordwainer Smith in particular, I knew exactly what was going on in the movie (to the point I was guessing Ballad of Lost C’Mell was being held back for a sequel.) So it never struck me as bonkers. As for Redmayne’s performance, I figured out exactly why his character had a raspy voice, so it in particular wasn’t a bit bonkers. Obviously if you don’t like SF you have a different perspective.
Being a SF fan in general, and a fan of Cordwainer Smith in particular, I knew exactly what was going on in the movie (to the point I was guessing Ballad of Lost C’Mell was being held back for a sequel.) So it never struck me as bonkers. As for Redmayne’s performance, I figured out exactly why his character had a raspy voice, so it in particular wasn’t a bit bonkers. Obviously if you don’t like SF you have a different perspective.
No, Redmayne deserved the Oscar win for Jupiter Ascending!
I AGREE so hard with that statement. I think , if anything, Eddie’s performance was the ONLY redeemable feature of that film. It is completely unfair to imply that his performance was lacking in any way or to blame him for the entire movie sucking. It is like they are trying to “send him down with the ship” as it were but he obviously gave his all to that role and it isn’t his fault that the movie tanked. For my part all I CAN remember about that film, other than that it sucked, is that Eddie was amazing. Blame the writer and directors for the film’s failure, not Eddie.