Redmayne was anxious about what Stepehn Hawking would think of his performance in the recent film depicting the physicist- he lost a lot of sleep over it.
When asked how scared he was when he was making the movie, he said: "Terrified. I'd met Stephen and he was never going to say, 'I'm thrilled you're doing this, you're going to be amazing.'
"It was nine months of sleepless nights, thinking, 'Will he like it?' "
It was all for nothing however as Stephen reported back to the director James Marsh that it was like watching himself in moments in the film.
Eddie said: "That was the greatest review ever. I want to retire."
On their first meeting things were a little more awkward than Redmayne would have liked.
He added to Time Out magazine: "I filled the room with hot air - I struggle with silence.
"The most random thing I said was so bad. He was born on January 8, 300 years to the day after Galileo, and I said, 'It's funny because I was born on January 6, so we're both Capricorns.'
"He looked at me and then he spent a few minutes typing.
"This was the second thing he said to me, in his iconic voice, 'I'm an astronomer, not an astrologer.' Which is hilarious but excruciating - he's not Mystic Meg!"
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