9 Insane Injuries Actors Suffered To Win An Oscar

9. Eddie Redmayne Inadvertently Altered His Spine To Play Stephen Hawking In The Theory Of Everything

James Marsh's Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory Of Everything is Hawking-approved, and that's down in no small part to the acclaimed portrayal of the physicist by Eddie Redmayne. The man himself has apparently said that watching Redmayne in the film is like watching himself, which is probably a relief to hear for the actor, considering the time and preparation he spent trying to convey on film the enormously difficult task of convincingly wasting slowly over a period of years. You see, Redmayne put his goddamn spine out of place playing the role, all that time spent hunched in the Hawking chair between takes gradually realigning his backbone until it adapted to the new, twisted position. Redmayne also lost 15 pounds, trained for four months with a dancer in order to better control his body and practiced for hours in front of a mirror contorting his face. "I fear I'm a bit of a control freak," was Redmayne's excuse, which is something of a understatement.
Contributor
Contributor

Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1