Based on a memoir by Stephen Hawking’s wife, Jane, The Theory of Everything tells the incredible story of the famous physicist who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde (played by Felicity Jones).
Hawking took to his Facebook page to share his thoughts on the new film based on his life. With his comments is an accompanying video depicting Eddie Redmayne’s incredible performance as the theoretical physicist .
I thought Eddie Redmayne portrayed me very well in The Theory of Everything Movie. He spent time with ALS sufferers so he could be authentic. At times, I thought he was me.
Seeing the film has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life. Although I’m severely disabled, I have been successful in my scientific work. I travel widely and have been to Antarctica and Easter Island, down in a submarine and up on a zero gravity flight. One day I hope to go into space.
I’ve been privileged to gain some understanding of the way the universe operates through my work. But it would be an empty universe indeed without the people that I love. –SH
Hawking was able to meet with Redmayne several days before shooting, and also visited the set during the filming of the May Ball scene. “It was dark and beautiful, and then Stephen arrived, silhouetted in his chair,” Redmayne told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was spotlit by his screen [on his wheelchair computer], and on cue, the fireworks went off. It was the greatest entrance I have ever seen in my life.”
Below is the film’s official synopsis, courtesy of Focus Features.
Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed. The film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking, and is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire”).
The Theory of Everything was released in North America on November 7th.
