Eddie Redmayne blew his chances of playing Kylo Ren in
Star Wars: The Force Awakens by mimicking Darth Vader’s breathy voice throughout his audition.
The Oscar winner has revealed he was among the actors who tried out for the coveted role of Darth Vader’s grandson, but he knew immediately he wouldn’t get far after failing to impress casting director Nina Gold.
“With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from
Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie,” he explained to Uproxx. “If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.”
The actor can now look back and laugh at his “catastrophically bad” audition, for which he adopted what he thought was a darker demeanor, but at the time, he was just left feeling defeated.
“That was really a hilarious moment,” he continued, “because it was Nina Gold – who I have to thank a lot because she’s cast me in several films – and she was just sitting there and I was trying again and again… and after, like, 10 shots, she’s like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No.'”
Girls star Adam Driver eventually landed the role, which he will reprise for 2017’s
Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Despite missing out on becoming a part of the
Star Wars franchise, all was not lost for
The Theory of Everything star – he stars in the upcoming
Harry Potter prequel
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in which he takes on the role of ‘magizoologist’ Newt Scamander. The movie is based on a companion novel
Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote in 2001.
Rowling has since confirmed there will be four sequels to the
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise.
