Looking Out For Eddie Redmayne

*All right, my original Eddie Redmayne post mysteriously popped up in the drafts after I published the second post, of course it does.

I've been terrible with these actor posts. I fall in love with actors so frequently that I would have expected to have a half-dozen names in my canon of fangirl posts. Strangely though, no actor after Ben Whishaw has really captured my attention. Mark Ruffalo caught my eye in this summer's "The Kids Are All Right" with his manly, vegetable-hauling sexiness, but alas! The draught of inspiring actors is no longer limited to Americans.

That reminds me - I thought Joseph Gordan-Levitt - aka American Actors' Only Hope - was wonderful in "Inception". Chris Nolan was smart, as he always is in his casting decisions - to pick such charming young actors of frenetic energy to play the near-thankless supporting roles. Unlike Leonardo Dicaprio (see Gangs of New York), Ellen Page and JGL have very easy, relatable charisma. Ok, so I suppose I have to thank Marion Cotillard and the lovely Cillian Murphy for that too - so much passion and earthiness to ground the frigid mechanisms of Nolan's dreamworld.

The only actor I've been vaguely enamored with for a week is Eddie Redmayne, and unfortunately, more of that has to do with his offscreen antics than his actorly skill, much like Ben Whishaw.

The bod or the head? Always, always, the head.

So this is a love entry, methinks. Oh, whatever hell! That's what personal blogs are for, anyways. Let's begin rifling through the sweet, albeit extremely brief, history of Me & Eddie Red-ma(y)ne.

2006: I encounter Eddie Redmayne for the first time in "The Good Shepherd". Am transfixed in an subjective manner by what I later learned was the term "jolie laide". A bit like that-guy-from-Twilight-whose-name-I-will-never-mention-on-this-blog-whilst-I-breathe. Classically, aristocratically handsome on some angles, slightly....odd in others. His eyes were distractingly wide. His voice was a little weird. Overall, an intriguing but not entirely positive first entrance. Very decent performance. Though it was totally unbelievable to see the 24 year old Redmayne play college son to Matt Damon, who I believe was like, twelve years older at the time.

2007-2008: Spot him frequently in the usual up-and-coming roles, from indie leads to oscar-movie cameos, like the assassin guy in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (the shittiest attempted assassination ever. Couldn't they have him at least shoot and miss? Blinded by her radiance? I'm sure it must have happened in real life to anyone lucky enough to encounter Cate Blanchett, but sheesh!).

I also see the trailer for Savage Grace, though the reviews scare me off. I absolutely do not notice him in The Other Boleyn Girl.

2009: I get a whiff of Eddie's radar but again fail to take notice, since at the time I was feverishly pursuing all traces of Ben Whishaw, the "other up-and-coming" Brit actor. The New York Times took note at least, featuring both actors in a screen-test termed "The Heartthrobs". The video also features Rupert Friend and Aaron Johnson. Rupert Friend comes off as more shy and intelligent than anyone would have given him credit for and Aaron Johnson acts like a pretentious ass, but both Eddie and Ben steal the show with their lively good nature and rambling humor.

This screen-test remains one of my favorites, and is notable for considerably warming my opinion of Eddie Redmayne* while remaining completely sidetracked by the precious, unwieldy charisma of Ben Whishaw. They're both such sweethearts, which is both worrying and appealing. Appealing to me as a fangirl, but worrying me as an actorphile. Where's the subtle shades of cynicism, the guarded hints of mysteriousness or moodiness? Boyish enthusiasm hardly colors the most interesting actors.

*Eddie is clearly a pop-culture fan. I love how he unabashedly refers not only to Serious Things like Glengarry Glen Ross and Oliver Twist, but also The Hills ("please! please!") and the Disney version of Robin Hood with foxes. He immediately gained my lifelong respect for mentioning Glengarry Glen Ross though, not gonna lie.

2010: He stars with Kristen Stewart and William Hurt in the ill-fated The Yellow Handkerchief, and again I barely take note of the movie other than wishing that it would die quickly. This is all Twilight resentment, don't worry, Eddie.

I see him in "The Pillars of the Earth", and now THIS miniseries, ladies and gentlemen, is the Cupid's arrow. He plays the painfully shy, inordinately talented mason/sculptor/architect Jack the Builder, a total color-by-numbers heartthrob. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've totally fallen for his character. It's not just because I really want to see him get it on with Hayley Atwell (whom I coincidentally discovered with Ben Whishaw in "Brideshead Revisited"! She was always so extreme in her affection towards Ben in interviews and videos that I seriously think he could have had her if he rolled that way).

I seriously digress. The point is, I loved his acting. Honestly. So many actors would have been all about interpreting shyness as "stoic and severe". It's a popular trend, and I don't mind when it's done well. Michael Corleone is the best example of this acting choice. The downside is, less-gifted actors just come across as wooden and humorless. Either way, it was totally refreshing to see Jack having a typical case of shyness. Having experienced severe bouts of shyness as a kid (I know, so atypical for a writer), I thought Redmayne was completely spot-on. The little blinks. The way of walking, the ever-present uneasiness, the rapt absorption of thought. He had everything down to a T, and remained beautifully vulnerable. I thought he did it with finesse, and he had me by the end of the first episode.

Then of course I had to google him in everything, analyzing microscopically. I rewatched his bits in The Good Shepherd. I watched Savage Grace, and was disappointed by the ho-hum reviews - IMO, everything they criticized was on part of the writing or directing, but I thought Redmayne was truly excellent as Anthony Baekeland. Ennui is always difficult to pull off without being irritating, and Eddie Redmayne nailed both the despair and shallowness of the character, without resorting to angst. He never overplays it, which is something I like. That's a valuable skill (my poor Christian Bale!) And I absolutely loved his arch, brittle narration.

Next on the list was Tess of the D'urbervilles, which I mainly spent (from the few clips I could gather) wondering why Gemma Arterton was so terrible and gazing at the dreaminess of Eddie's Angel Clare. I've never read the book, I admit. For some reason I thought it was about a hound....from some description I read when I was eight. I really don't know.

After that, there's not much on his filmography to look at, other than adorable clips of him winning a Tony for Red, being ignored in The Yellow Handkerchief interviews in favor of Kristen-whoring, and being completely joyful, humble, funny, and exuberant at various venues, explicating on an apparent love for Al Pacino and De Niro ("have you seen the Devil's Advocate? Amazing film!" [while tossing his head back]) and showing an appealing offscreen persona that has been as far from his rather internalized characters onscreen as possible.

So far I haven't really figured out a technique - he hovers between the natural and calculated, the charismatic and normal, resulting in a very good actor, which I suppose leaves room for potential. Like all theatre types, he's a natural with lines. He delivered this particularly well from "Tess of the D'urbervilles" well, considering the florid nature of it - every actor's nightmare:

"I'm devoted to you with all my heart. I love and adore you in all sincerity. And I shall need a wife, someone by my side. And no one better, more beautiful, more virtuous than you. Marry me, Tess. Be my wife."

Crickey-Christ.

Like Ben Whishaw, he's the type to work reliably, consistently, perhaps without ever reaching superstardom or dismal failure. Perhaps an oscar nom in the future. He's not a Heath nor an Orlando. Starring in Spielberg's "War Horse" is not necessarily a guarantee of making the A-list, the way everyone thought Ryan Phillipe would be after signing on for a Clint Eastwood vehicle ("Flags of Our Fathers"). But, he's making smart choices and immersing himself in different opportunities, so I think it's safe to say that we can expect a lot more from the classy, talented Eddie Redmayne in the future.

Trivia:

He has known that guy from Twilight for a long time (according to him, "British actors stick together in LA"), along with Tom Sturridge and other members of the Hot Young Brits club. He shot The Yellow Handkerchief before Kristen Stewart had begun filming "Twilight", and Kristen recalls Eddie telling her that her future costar and alleged love "[was] a good boy...he's kind of weird." hee.

He would rather live in a Manhattan penthouse than an English castle. He wants one like Al Pacino's from "The Devil's Advocate".

He had a crush on Maid Marian from the Disney Robin Hood, along with Nala from The Lion King.

He was an Art History major at Cambridge. That follows in nicely with the recent discovery that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a French major at Columbia.