The first trailer has landed for the upcoming biographical film, The Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sexual reassignment surgery.
Based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff, the Danish Girl is set in early 1920’s Copenhagen. Illustrator and artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) to be a stand in for a model she was painting a portrait of. The painting gains widespread popularity and Gerda decides to paint more pictures of her husband dressed as a woman.
Over time, Einar begins to develop an attraction for the female physical appearance and starts living life as a woman named Lili Elbe. This leads to Elbe becoming the first ever recipient of male to female sex reassignment surgery with support from Gerda, but a childhood friend of Einar, Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), turns up and causes friction in their marriage as he forms a complex love triangle with the couple.
As a recent recipient of an Oscar for his performance in The Theory of Everything, Redmayne has been targeted for taking on a role that could win him his second Oscar. But in an interview with GQ magazine he assured: “I was actually offered The Danish Girl before Hawking… People go, “Oh are you doing this transformative thing?” It’s not a concerted choice. I think it will be a unique experience.”
In a recent interview, Redmayne gushed about the difficult life-changing decision Lili Elbe made, and further assured that his choice to play the role was not for the purpose of winning awards. “The danger of surgery was so extreme [in the 1920s]. It’s such a brave thing that Einar did.” He said.
The movie is directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables) and it stars a fantastic supporting cast including Ben Whishaw (Skyfall, Paddington), Amber Heard (Zombieland, The Rum Diary) and Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others).
Watch the trailer here:
The current release date is New Year’s Day 2016.