It’s like knowing how youngPaul Thomas Andersonwas when he madeBoogie Nights[Anderson was 26].
You’re just like, Oh, this is going to be one of the greats of our generation.
Time and time again, I feel like he just crushes it.
Margot Robbie and Diego Calva in ‘Babylon’.Scott Garfield/Paramount
AndBabylonis, for sure, I think, his biggest swing in a lot of ways.
And I think he nails it.
What were your initial conversations like?
Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) is carried aloft during a big-scale Hollywood production in ‘Babylon.'.Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures
I read the script, and it wasn’t an offer to me.
I was so obsessed with the idea of being Nellie.
I remember calling my team 10 times a day and being like, “Have we heard?
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What do I do to get this role?
Should I just go over to his house and convince him?”
And they were like, “No, just wait.”
Olivia Colman in ‘Empire of Light’.Parisa Taghizadeh/Searchlight Pictures
There are still instances where you’ve got to convince someone when you have the gut instinct.
it’s possible for you to’t lose the hustle.
You just used the word “manic” to describe Nellie.
Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain in ‘The Good Nurse’.Courtesy of TIFF
She’s a bit of a hot mess.
That’s how she gets a job.
And that’s at the start of the movie and we need to escalate from there.
JoJo Whilden / Netflix
She knows what she has and what she doesn’t have, and she plays to her strengths.
She’s like: Yeah, I come from nothing.
Obviously Nellie is super ambitious.
AMPAS/ABC via Getty Images
Can you relate to that side of her?
Yeah, I definitely relate to that hunger that I have to make it happen.
It’s kind of gross to wear that sheer ambition so obviously.
Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter returned as the costume designer for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.Marvel Studios; Gilbert Flores/Getty
But no, I’ve always had that hunger.
I still have that hunger.
How do I get a foot in the door?
Gabriel LaBelle in ‘The Fabelmans’.Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
How do I make it to America?
How do I get a plane ticket?
It was just a constant scratching at, getting to the next thing.
You just have to want it so bad.
You have to love it so much and want it so bad.
At the end of the day, it’s crucial that you want it more than everyone else.
I’ve read that you auditioned 31 different accents for Nellie are there even 31 different accents?
What were some of the ones that almost made it?
Everyone who parties hard in their 20s, they have that husky voice.
I had a husky voice when I partied too hard when I was younger.
I mean, when I say 31 accents, I’m not exaggerating.
I could go through my phone voice memos and show you me impersonating Joe Pesci, me doing Snooki.
Give me a bit of Fran there.
Okay, no, I don’t like that."
How do you think you’d cut it in the silent era?
I did think about that a lot.
Would I have done better back then than now?
I don’t know.
I am one of those nostalgic people that romanticizes the past.
I love movies from the ’30s.
I just love that time period where it was head-to-toe acting in all the shots.
I’m quite a technical actor, and I love choreography and acting whole-body as opposed to just face.
Did working with someone like Damien make you up your level a little bit?
“Good enough” is never enough for Damien, and that’s what I love.
That’s what I find inspiring with a director.
A director who’s like, “No, we haven’t got it yet.
I love someone who’s not going to settle for anything less than better than they imagined.
That’s why I only work with directors I believe in.
I will do anything they tell me.
I will do anything, go anywhere, give them absolutely everything that I have.
Was there anything that you do inBabylonthat was daunting or scary?
I’m actually scared to take this role because of those scenes.”
And usually when I’m scared is when I dive in head first.
It has to be absurd and heightened but still real and hit you in some sort of emotional way.
Is working with him inspiring to you?
It makes me so happy because he’s been doing this a lot longer than I have.
I still walk onto every set and it’s like Christmas morning every time.
I’m like, Well, then, go do something else.
Let someone else have a go.
Brad is so not that person.
This is so good.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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“Not at all,” he tells EW.
“It’s of course fascinating.
We’re all curious about the darkness.
Redmayne says it was screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairn’s script that drew him to the project.
“I loved that you never saw this guy doing it,” he explains.
The script didn’t fit into a box.
He was also shocked at how he had never heard of Cullen before signing on toThe Good Nurse.
TheTheory of EverythingOscar winner got to work immediately preparing for the role.
I know it sounds simple, but it’s so rare in film.”
“I’m not sure I do want to meet him, honestly,” Redmayne says.
“He’s a complex man.
There’s an extraordinary ego on him.
The Good Nurseis now streaming on Netflix.
