Eddie Redmayne consulted his wife and mother before starring in 'The Danish Girl'.
Eddie Redmayne
The 33-year-old actor stars opposite Alicia Vikander in the new pseudo-biographical drama movie, in which he plays Lili Elbe - one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery - and has revealed he spoke to the female influences in his life, including his wife Hannah Bagshawe, before shooting the movie.
He explained: "When I was preparing for the role I wasn't going, 'Ooh, where's my feminine side?'
"It was just about finding out who this character was and finding that place inside me. It seems to me that the notions we've had until now of masculinity and femininity are almost antiquated these days.
"It used to be that if someone is sporty then they're 'masculine' and if they like art they're 'feminine', and I feel we've got a long way beyond that now. I certainly don't see the world as being male and female in that way any more - I feel like there's a whole spectrum of shades in there."
The Oscar-winning actor also revealed he talked to a number of transgender women as part of his research for the role.
He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "A lot of them said that in the early period of transitioning they had gone through a period of what they called hyper-feminisation. It's sort of like what teenage girls go through in adolescence - suddenly you have access to too much make-up and you wear clothes you think are ultra-feminine but they're just over the top.
"One woman I met said that in the beginning she would walk with too much hip swaying, and she had to learn how to walk correctly. Then, once you've got over that phase, there are other questions to deal with.
"One woman said that these days she wears quite androgynous clothes but she always carries a rucksack on her shoulder because it counters her posture and gives her some of the curves she doesn't naturally have. Little things like that were very interesting to me."
Tagged in Eddie Redmayne Alicia Vikander