USA: Tony award winning English actor Eddie Redmayne talks about his next role in The Pillars of the Earth

Record ID: 765783

  • Title: USA: Tony award winning English actor Eddie Redmayne talks about his next role in The Pillars of the Earth
  • Date: 1st July 2010
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - JUNE 25, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDDIE REDMAYNE, ACTOR, SAYING: "What I love about what I've seen of Pillars is you really begin to grow with these characters and watch them transform and change and you kind of nurture the character. And being able to spend that amount of time and that breadth of story with them means that you end up having an emotional connection to them which you wouldn't necessarily have in an hour and a half." NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - APRIL 1, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 'RED' SIGN AT THE GOLDEN THEATRE
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2010 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA9UACPKWCFD8CAXSBOABCHIFL1
  • Story Text: Having recently won a Tony award, star of stage and screen, English actor Eddie Redmayne talks about his latest role in the television adaptation of the best-selling book, "The Pillars of the Earth".
    Having recently won a Tony award for his Broadway debut in "Red", English actor Eddie Redmayne goes back in time for his latest role as a Jack Jackson in the epic miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth".
    In the television adaptation of "The Pillars of the Earth", Ken Follett's best-selling book about the building of a cathedral in 12th century England, Redmayne takes the key role of an unusual, but gifted architect and sculpture.
    "In 'The Pillars of the Earth', I play Jack Jackson who starts off as a sort of mute brought up in the forest by his mother. He is incredibly educated, home-schooled by his mom, but he also has this mixture of a sort of animalistic quality of having learned to survive in medieval England in the forest. He is a passionate guy and he has an extraordinary innate talent as a sort of craftsman and as an artist. He starts as I say as a mute and over the eight hour series, he kind of grows into this kind of extraordinary human being and becomes a master builder in this cathedral building," Redmayne told Reuters.
    "The Pillars of the Earth" will air on the Starz cable network as an eight part miniseries beginning on Friday, July 23.
    Redmayne said he likes the idea of the miniseries because it gives viewers more time to get to know the characters, more so than they would during a typical 90 minute film.
    "What I love about what I've seen of Pillars is you really begin to grow with these characters and watch them transform and change and you kind of nurture the character. And being able to spend that amount of time and that breadth of story with them means that you end up having an emotional connection to them which you wouldn't necessarily have in an hour and a half," he said.
    Redmayne may not be a household name yet, but in June he sealed his status as one of theater's best actors when he won the Tony award for Best Featured Actor for the Broadway play "Red". In "Red", Redmayne played the young assistant to abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko who was played by Alfred Molina. Before coming to the United States, "Red" gained critical acclaim in London's West End where Redmayne was also commended for his performance with the Oliver Award for Best Supporting Actor.
    Redmayne said winning the Tony award came as a surprise.
    "It generally was never even a consideration in my mind. I don't think that's why you get into doing what you do for those sorts of awards and acclaim. But my God when it happens it's an incredibly special thing," he said.
    Since "Red", Redmayne has become one of the most highly sought after actors in the United States and in the United Kingdom. And recent projects have kept him on the road, but Redmayne said he enjoys the travel... as long as the hotel is nice.
    "Home is London. I was born and bred there, so I've grown up there since I was a kid. You live a nomadic life as an actor. If your someone that wants organization and planning, sadly it does not function like that, you have to learn to live spontaneously and there are great things that come from that, and there are sort of awful things that come from that. The answer is I kind of get to jump around the world a lot and that is something I've always enjoyed. I've always loved a good hotel room. I can't complain. I hear all these actors going. 'God, I've been on the road for a year and a half. I'm fed up with living out of a suitcase.' I'm like provided it's a swanky enough hotel, I'm killer and I'm happy," he said.
    "Red" ended its run at the Golden Theatre on Broadway on Sunday June 27. As for what's next, Redmayne said he will take a vacation.
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