After scooping the best actor accolade at the 2015 ceremony for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything the British star cited Neighbours characters Susan and Karl Kennedy, played by Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher, as his idols. Looking back, Eddie can’t help but feel embarrassed by his reaction to receiving such a big honour.
“Then everything goes blank in your head and you try not to make a fool of yourself – I think maybe I did make a complete fool of myself,” he told Britain’s Esquire magazine of the moment he won, recalling how a journalist from Down Under quizzed him on being a fan of Jackie and Alan.
“Because I’d once said in an interview how I was obsessed with Neighbours as a kid and they’re kind of my idols. Suddenly someone’s asking me about Susan and Karl Kennedy and I’m going, ‘Wow, yeah, they’re great,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Wait a second – where am I? WHAT AM I DOING?’”
Despite the movie cementing his star status, Eddie felt a great deal of pressure in preparing for the role. Although director James Marsh gave him an open amount of time to get ready, he also warned Eddie that the film wouldn’t work if his performance wasn’t right. From then on the 34-year-old realised he had to step things up and ask for help.
“(I told myself) ‘Actually, do you know what? I need a voice coach. I need a movement coach. I want to go to meet all the people that are associated with this film’. It made me have more clarity to know what I need to work well,” he recalled.
Next fans can see Eddie in the film adaptation of J. K. Rowling’s novel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, set before the Harry Potter tales. He plays wizard Newt Scamander, whose global excursion to find magical creatures lands him in trouble when he arrives in New York City.
