Eddie Redmayne has said multiple times that it was a “mistake” to take on the role of trans icon Lile Elbe in 2015’s The Danish Girl. (Universal Pictures)

Eddie Redmayne has said he’s “learned his lesson” after playing a trans woman in The Danish Girl.

British star Redmayne, who in 2021 said he would never play a transgender person again, and that his part in 2015’s The Danish Girl was a “mistake”, has again spoken about roles he wouldn’t take on.

He expressed his regret at playing Lili Elbe – a trans woman who was one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery – in the historical biopic. His performance won him a best-actor nomination at the Oscars but drew widespread criticism from members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Redmayne has recently finished a run on Broadway, where he played the queer-coded character of the Emcee in a production of Cabaret, for which he also faced a backlash.

‘I’d learned my lesson’

Speaking to Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley on the Podcrushed podcast, Redmayne reflected on his previous roles and said: “I have a history of parts that I’ve played, that have been problematic in some of those choices, and I’ve spent a lot of time ruminating on those things and wondering what I would do differently.
Eddie Redmayne played transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in 2015’s The Danish Girl. (Getty)
“When it came to Cabaret, I’d learnt my lesson, and I didn’t take the part on without knowing exactly what I was doing.”

He understood the backlash for taking on an “iconically queer role” but added that the character was “description-less and deserves any form of interpretation”.

The Day of the Jackal star went on to say: “I was upset by the backlash but I had faith in my own take on the role… there is no character description for him.”

Last year, Redmayne reiterated that he still regrets taking the role of Elbe, and, more recently, having played Newt Scamander in three Fantastic Beasts films, said he believed the Harry Potter spin-off franchise was “probably” over.

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