The Verge: Eddie Redmayne

Had you been to New Orleans before that?

Never. Blew my mind, man. F***ing amazing city. Had the most amazing time there, and I'd kill to go back -- no, I will go back.

What was it about the city that made the biggest impression on you?

What I was astounded by was this hybrid of cultures, and the beauty of the architecture. The food, the cultural history, and the music there...I feel like it's a template for what every other city in the world should be like. Music is played in the street, in the shops and bars...in London, I have so many brilliantly talented friends who are out-of-work musicians who can't find a venue to play in, whereas there, it's this constant musical celebration. I feel like, "Why don't we all that? Why isn't that the norm?"

Getting back to your conception of Gordy, I thought I recognized some slightly autistic characteristics there. Was that intentional?

Yeah, yeah. It was...I mean, it's weird. I read the script, and he has these outlandish comments and this complete lack of sensitivity at moments, so there's this slight Asperger's quality to him. I almost don't want to say that, though.

The script doesn't specify it, but there is a moment where he seems to acknowledge that he's struggling to understand why he acts the way he does...

Understanding, yeah. Being "normal." He's aware that he's not normal, whatever that word means. There was an element of that where I did do some research, but it wasn't like [the film] Adam or something. Certainly, it's something I played with.

Just two months ago, you were doing the John Logan play Red at the Donmar Warehouse. I think most people in Hollywood know Logan mainly as a screenwriter for films like The Aviator and Sweeney Todd.

We're going to Broadway with it, too, in two weeks. He's an amazing man. He started out as a playwright, then moved out here and had success working on all these film scripts. Then he went and worked on Sweeney Todd with Stephen Sondheim and Sondheim said, "It's about time you write a play again." He was in London and went to the Donmar Warehouse, saw a lot of shows there, was insider to write about Mark Rothko, and wrote this play that's dedicated to Sondheim for reminding him to write again. It's a piece of work I'm really proud of, and Alfred Molina is one of the loveliest human beings in the world. I'm chuffed that we get to do it on Broadway in a few weeks' time.

Do you think it'll follow that same path to the big screen that Frost/Nixon did?

Who knows? It's a two-hander, a very intimate tale about apprenticeship and this sort of father/son relationship. It's everything I'm kind of interested in. I don't know if there's a film life for it, but certainly I'm thrilled that since it's this New York play by an American writer, that New York will get to see it. You should come, too!

[Photo Credit: Ian Gavan / Getty Images]

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