Things are going pretty good for Eddie Redmayne, with an Oscar on his mantle for “The Theory Of Everything,” and the lead role in the upcoming five film franchise, “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.” But just a few years ago, he was one of many faces that went through the process of auditioning to play Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and, of course, he didn’t get the part that eventually went to Adam Driver. However, he’s a good sport and shared what went down with Uproxx.
According to Redmayne, the level of secrecy around the project was such that no one was given actual pages from the script. Instead, they had him do a scene from another movie, possibly “Pride And Prejudice” or “Star Trek,” and told him he was playing the villain.
“If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on,” Redmayne said. “That was really a hilarious moment. Because it was Nina Gold, who I have to thank a lot because she’s cast me in several films. And she was just sitting there and I was trying again and again with different versions of my kind of ‘koohh paaaah’ [Darth Vader breathing sound] voice. And after like ten shots she’s like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No.’ ”
So it goes sometimes, but Redmayne landed on his feet anyway, Driver is great fun as Kylo Ren and everything worked out. But perhaps in an alternate universe, it’s Driver playing Newt Scamander in ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ and Redmayne as Kylo Ren in ‘The Force Awakens.’