Eddie Redmayne Got Advice from Lana Wachowski on Playing Transgender Role in 'Danish Girl'

Eddie Redmayne had a fellow Oscar winner at the helm of his new drama, The Danish Girl, in Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech). But there was another filmmaker Redmanye has worked with whose counsel on the subject matter proved just as helpful. The actor turned to Lana Wachowski, his director on Jupiter Ascending and arguably the most high-profile transgender person in the movie business, for advice when taking on the role of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe.

“I talked to Lana about Lili and she told me how important Man Into Woman, Lili’s book, was to her,” Redmayne told Yahoo Movies at the Toronto International Film Festival (watch above). “She talked to me at great length about [artist Gerda Wegener’s] paintings of Lili. She basically catalyzed my education and really told me to where to start reading as I began to start education myself and prep.”

Related: Review: Eddie Redmayne Is the Main Attraction in ‘The Danish Girl’

The Danish Girl follows the plight of Elbe, the successful painter born Einar Wegener, who, with the support of wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), would ultimately become the first person to undergo a successful gender-reassignment surgery. Redmayne, an Oscar winner for last year’s Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, is once again considered a strong favorite in the awards race for his work in Danish Girl.

Lana Wachowski (formerly Larry) shot to fame alongside brother Andy Wachowski as the writer-directors of The Matrix trilogy. She underwent gender transition in the early 2000s.

The Danish Girl opens nationwide Christmas Day.