The Oscar-winning actor is aiming for awards glory again in the poignant story of one of the first recipients of sexual reassignment surgery

After winning the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne is hitting the awards circuit again for his role in The Danish Girl.

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The trailer for the drama, directed by The King’s Speech’s Tom Hooper, has just arrived and it gives us a closer look at the fact-based tale. Redmayne stars as Einar Wegener, one of the first recipients of sexual reassignment surgery, who became Lili Elbe.

The film chronicles her journey in the 1920s and her role in a love triangle with her illustrator wife and childhood friend, played by Alicia Vikander and Matthias Schoenaerts. Ben Whishaw and Amber Heard also star.

It’s a film that’s almost come to the screen on numerous occasions but always with two female leads (Charlize Theron was once linked to the role). Transgender activists have criticised the choice of Redmayne as they believe it should have been given to someone who has undergone the transition themselves. But director Hooper has defended his decision.

“Eddie was really the person I wanted to make the film with, and I was very passionate about that,” Hooper said to Screen Daily. “I was a great believer in him as an actor. I think also there’s a certain gender fluidity that I sensed in him, that I found intriguing and it led me to think he might be a really interesting person to cast in this role.

“I felt that there was something in him that was drawn to the feminine,” he added. “That was something that I felt he might be interested to explore further.”

The Danish Girl is set to have its world premiere at the Venice film festival on Saturday, 5 September, and will hit US cinemas on 27 November and UK cinemas on 1 January.