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Eddie Redmayne reveals he found full-frontal nude scene 'embarrassing' in The Danish Girl

Redmayne plays transgender painter Lili Elbe in the upcoming drama

Jess Denham
Tuesday 24 November 2015 17:57 GMT
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Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl
Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl

Eddie Redmayne has revealed that he felt as uncomfortable as anybody would when filming his full-frontal nude scene for The Danish Girl.

The Oscar-winning actor plays transgender painter Lili Elbe, one of the first known people to undergo gender reassignment surgery, in Tom Hooper’s upcoming drama. During one moving scene, he has to tuck his penis between his legs to mimic a vagina while standing naked in front of a mirror.

“Any time you get naked in front of a crew it’s embarrassing,” he told Details. “It’s not as if we actors have some way of becoming comfortable with it. It would be exactly like you getting naked in front of 30 people.”

The Danish Girl - Trailer

Initially showing his transformed self to the rest of the cast and the crew had only served to make the 33-year-old more awkward.

“Just walking onto a set filled with men, watching the difference in how you’re treated, or the scrutiny…the gaze was overwhelming,” he said. “A lot of the women I worked with said, ‘Yeah, welcome to our world.”

To prepare for the challenging role, Redmayne read true stories of trans people, studied their art and met up with trans communities in Los Angele. He knew he had a lot of research to do to give a convincing performance and earlier this year, admitting that he “didn’t realise that gender and sexuality weren’t related”.

“Everyone’s generosity in educating me was enormous,” he said. “Very giving. They’d say, ‘No question I won’t answer in order to explain to you.’”

The Danish Girl opens in UK cinemas on 1 January 2016.

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