Eddie Redmayne says Harvey Weinstein didn’t want him in My Dinner With Marilyn
The disgraced Hollywood producer thought Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne moved his face too much
Film News Eddie Redmayne
Disgraced Hollywood mogul and accused serial rapist Harvey Weinstein had a bad reputation long before the #MeToo movement knocked him from his throne. For decades, rumors of career sabotage, violence, and all-around bad behavior surrounded Weinstein, and today, Eddie Redmayne adds yet another story to the book.
In his recent Vanity Fair “Career Timeline,” the Oscar-winning actor revealed that Weinstein approached him on the set of My Week With Marilyn and told Redmayne that he didn’t want him in the movie because of his face. “I got cast in [My Week With Marilyn] by the lovely Simon Curtis,” Redmayne said. “On our first day of filming, I remember he told me, on day one to walk with him. [Weinstein] said, ‘Walk with me,’ and I was terrified.”
“He sort of told that basically he didn’t want me in the movie, and that I was moving my face too much. So my sort of overwhelming memory of that film is just trying not to move my face, which explains quite a lot of the performance.”
Redmayne’s recollection isn’t very severe in the grand scheme of Weinstein’s crimes, but it is a weird thing to say to an actor on their first day in front of the camera. For his part, Weinstein is on trial for numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations. Recently, and ironically, the guy who hates when an actor moves their face too much was told to stop staring blankly at the jury.
As for Redmayne, while the interview does not go into his legendary role in Jupiter Ascending, he was very generous about his performance in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. “When we started on the first Fantastic Beasts, there were things that were very stressful,” he said. “Like having a wand is your childhood dream, but suddenly you’re presented with this thing, and you get complete stage fright. I don’t have a clue what to do with it. And so wand school was created.”
“The joy of those films was getting to watch new actors come in and be presented with their wand and watching the inner kid just reveal itself from everyone and anyone, however extraordinary the actor.”
8 Comments
Even a super-creepy, rapey clock is right twice a day.
Its called My Week with Marilyn
lol lol little bit of a miss.
I’m fine saying that somebody who was an inhuman monster who was pretty good at making (and ruining) movies knew that an actor who sucks sucks.
He won an Oscar, didn’t he? Therefore, he doesn’t suck.
Look, he’s a monster, but he’s a monster who knew a thing or two about making films. I mean, he didn’t get his job based on his looks.
I find Redmayne incredibly dull but… it kinda worked for that particular movie? His character isn’t really supposed to be charming. He’s a shy nerd who grows increasingly self-absorbed as Monroe milks him for emotional validation and intimacy. I liked that even as his head grows bigger over the relationship, a modicum of resistance from Watson’s character kinda crushes him.I think they could have cast a better actor in that role but I also think they could’ve just had a better director and script who could actually take a better look at the nuance of the situation. I like that film but it’s carried entirely by Michelle Williams, who managed to channel Monroe without looking even remotely similar to her.