Eddie Redmayne needs to be careful when admitting to having “a complete meltdown”. Because if the rest of the world is anything like us, he’ll shortly be inundated with fawning females flocking to his doors and volunteering for the role of permanent mistress nursemaid.
Just joking, we’re COMPLETELY over him now, OKAY GUYS? Now that he’s married – gulp – to his – gulp – former long-term girlfriend.
Anyhow, despite being showered with praise for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in the new film The Theory of Everything, the god actor has admitted that the prospect of portraying the theoretical physicist’s struggle with ALS – a rare form of motor neurone disease – left him so worried, he couldn't sleep.
Eddie told The Mr Porter Post that he was overwhelmed at the thought of having to film scenes in non-chronological order, jumping from pre-diagnosis, to using walking sticks, to being wheelchair bound.
"I was terrified. It was like I’d been asked to write a sentence in permanent ink starting with one word at the beginning, one at the middle and one at the end,” he said.
He added: “I was having a complete meltdown – it was four in the morning, I was getting picked up at five, and I hadn’t slept. I was thinking, ‘I can’t start a job like this’.”
Daunting though it must have been, given that Eddie’s performance has been praised by Stephen Hawking himself, it looks like the actor managed to overcome his fears in the end.
We can’t wait to see it on the big screen! And you, Eddie, for that matter.