Eddie Redmayne Was ‘Upset by the Backlash’ to His ‘Cabaret’ Casting, but ‘Understood’ People See the Role as Queer-Coded

"I didn’t take the part on without knowing exactly what I was doing."

Eddie Redmayne learned his “lesson” 10 years after starring in the 2015 biopic “The Danish Girl.” Redmayne, who portrayed trans activist Lili Elbe, a trans woman who received one of the earliest known gender-affirming surgeries, previously said in 2021 that he “wouldn’t take it on now” as a cisgender man.

In April 2024, Redmayne played the famously queer-coded Emcee character in the splashy Broadway production of “Cabaret.” During a recent appearance on Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast, the actor explained the differences between those casting choices, adding that he knew “exactly what I was doing” by playing the Emcee after the controversy surrounding “The Danish Girl” casting.

“I have a history of parts that I’ve played, that have been problematic in some of those choices, and I’ve spent a lot of time ruminating on those things and wondering what I would do differently,” Redmayne said. “When it came to ‘Cabaret,’ I’d learned my lesson, and I didn’t take the part on without knowing exactly what I was doing.”

“The Day of the Jackal” actor starred alongside Gayle Rankin in the iconic production about the fictional German Kit Kat Club cabaret theater that takes place during the 1940s leading into WWII. Redmayne first played the Emcee on the West End in 2022 and won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical alongside Jessie Buckley.

While the Emcee character has long been read as a queer man, Redmayne assured that there was no scripted sexuality for the role. “As far as what he exists as on the page, there is no character description for him,” Redmayne said. “I also think that that character is description-less and deserves any form of interpretation.”

The Oscar winner said that when he took on the “iconically queer role,” he “was upset by the backlash when it was announced, but I had faith in my own take on the role.” Redmayne added that, for the part, which has been played by Joel Grey in Bob Fosse‘s Oscar-winning 1972 film and Alan Cumming on Broadway, there is a certain interpretation of queerness.

“Certainly, for example, in the Alan Cumming version, at the end of the piece, the Emcee, his costume is taken off, and he’s revealed in a concentration camp outfit with a pink triangle … which was incredibly moving and was incredibly powerful on Broadway, and I think had sort of made people go, ‘This is a gay character,’” Redmayne said. “So I absolutely understood the questioning of that.”

Redmayne told IndieWire in 2024 that “Cabaret” film star Grey gave him his casting approval back in 2022.

“When I first did the show in London, it was our opening night, and I was halfway through, it was at the interval, and there was this extraordinary bunch of flowers, and I opened the card and Joel had sent me flowers welcoming me to The Emcee family, and he has been so generous,” Redmayne said. “He came to see the show with John Kander the other night. I’m not going to lie, I was utterly terrified and intimidated, but they could not have been more generous and kind.”