Early on in Disney’s exhaustive casting process for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, scores of budding actors and actresses from across the globe turned in their auditions for a variety of different roles. Some, like Daisy Ridley’s, have went on to become viral hits, though others weren’t so fortunate.
Eddie Redmayne, Oscar-winning star of The Danish Girl and, soon, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, revealed in a candid interview with Uproxx that he actually auditioned for The Force Awakens all those months ago, and it would seem that the actor’s verbose test run meant that it was ultimately an audition to forget.
You mention auditioning for the same roles as Domhnall Gleeson a lot. When you auditioned for Star Wars, did you audition for Hux?
No. So, I was going for, I think, for Adam Driver’s role. They gave me like a Star Trek scene – or like something from Pride and Prejudice. It was one of those films. With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.
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.”
It’s a funny story, to be sure, and you’ve got to feel a little bad for Redmayne. However, given that Adam Driver’s magnetic performance as Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens was widely praised, perhaps this one turned out for the best?