Eddie Redmayne Intimidated By Prince William On Rugby Field

Eddie Redmayne used to call Prince William a teammate when the lads played rugby together at Eton College.

“He’s a very good rugby player,” Eddie told Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush on the Golden Globes red carpet on Sunday. “I’m not. I haven’t seen him since I left school, but he was a lovely man.

“I’m pretty sure Will was more intimidating than I was. I don’t think I ever intimidated anyone in my life,” he added.

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One thing Eddie wasn’t too intimidated to take on was the role of Stephen Hawking, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama for his performance in “The Theory of Everything.”

“There was trepidation, but there was also extraordinary privilege, so I basically once I was cast I wanted to educate myself on ALS, on science…and then I got to meet the man and the family,” he explained. “Normally when you speak to Stephen or you see him he has pre-written answers because it takes him a long time to communicate. So when I met him we were speaking live and so there were very long pauses and it’s a very sort of awkward rhythm, but he was amazing to meet. He’s funny, so funny.”

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Eddie described how Stephen expresses himself despite the limitations of his illness.

“Because he would take a long time to articulate it, you’d be speaking to his nurses and then he would sort of interject with one-liners and also just sort of his looks,” Eddie said. “It’s amazing for someone who can move so few muscles; he has the most charismatic of faces.”

Eddie took a sigh of relief after Stephen screened the completed film and gave his approval.

“He saw the movie a couple of months before Christmas and from the second I got this part I felt a lot of fear and after he saw the film and he was very kind about it. My shoulders that had been pretty hunched for a few months just had a very good night’s sleep that night,” he told Access.

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This has been a big few months for Eddie. He also recently said “I do” to new wife Hannah Bagshawe, who stood just below the Access platform.

“[Marriage] is good. My bride is here,” Eddie said while pointing her out to our camera. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, so that’d be bad if I screwed it up already.”

Paige Feigenbaum

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