It’s the most publicised event of 2015. It’s the most famous contest of the year. No, not the upcoming election. The Oscars. This year, Britain has two representatives for the Academy Awards Best Actor category: Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Redmayne has been nominated for his portrayal of Stephan Hawking in The Theory of Everything; Cumberbatch for his role as Alan Turning in The Imitation Game.
Eddie Redmayne with co-star Felicity Jones
Benedict Cumberbatch with co-stars including Keira Knightly
Both actors have been nominated for depicting a real person in a biopic. Both have acted the role of Stephen Hawking. Both have hair infused with a twinge of ginger. Both have had characters named William married to Scarlett Johansson in The Other Boleyn Girl. Both are colloquially known as Ed.
The stars of The Other Boylen Girl, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana (L-R)
These two gorgeous men have had an unbelievable 2014, having both released films that have earned them the pinnacle achievement for an actor, a Best Actor nominee in the Academy Awards. This success is mirrored in their personal lives, with Redmayne’s marriage to Hannah Bagshawe and Cumberbatch’s marriage to Sophie Hunter, with the additional delight of fatherhood to look forward to. Despite the fact that these marriages have broken millions of hearts around the world (I’m not bitter), their trajectories to superstardom have been supersonic.
It is difficult to choose between perfection.
To help you decide who to root for in the upcoming Oscar battle, here’s the lowdown for making informed choice. This is the unequivocal guide for deciding where your allegiance lies.
Are you #teamed or #teamben?
And the Categories for this year’s nominations….
- Biographies
- Red Carpet Style
- Quotes
- Most Famous Role
- Winning the internet
- Trivia
- Best cheekbones
Biographies
Eddie Redmayne
- Age: 33
- Born: London, England
- Height: 1.80 m
- Education: Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge
- Famous Roles: Colin Clark in My Week with Marilyn, Marius in Les Misérables, and Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything
- Oscar nomination: Best Actor for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything
Benedict Cumberbatch
- Age: 38
- Born: London, England, 19th July 1976
- Height: 1.83 m
- Education: Harrow School, University of Manchester
- Famous Roles: Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock; William Prince Ford in 12 Years a Slave; the voice of Smaug and Necromancer in The Hobbit (also starring Martin Freeman)
- Oscar nomination: Alan Turing in The Imitation Game
Red Carpet Style
Eddie Redmayne
Benedict Cumberbatch
Quotes
Eddie Redmayne
“I did an interview once where I was asked who I found attractive and I went on about cartoons and Nala from ‘The Lion King’ – and it’s a bit weird but various of my ex-girlfriends actually did look like Nala.”
“I walk around talking to myself in accents. Usually people look at me like I’m a complete fruit loop.”
“I’ve been a closet lover of faux-reality TV since The Hills. It’s bad.”
The cast of The Hills
“[On kissing Scarlett Johansson in The Other Boleyn Girl] Together we had lips bigger than Christendom. We didn’t even need to stand in the same room.”
“My parents really enjoyed Sex and the City. So they were, like, “If Kim Cattrall says you’re OK, you’re OK.” It was a moment of validation, so thanks Kim.”
Benedict Cumberbatch
[on his look] It’s the blessing of having a weird face – somewhere between an otter and something people find vaguely attractive.
[on what he learned in 2014] I learnt where my home is. I learnt where my heart is, where my centre is, where my now and forevermore is, and she’s called Sophie Hunter, my fiancée.
“It’s the standard actors’ joke – ‘What are you doing after this?’ ‘Oh, if Spielberg doesn’t call then I’m going to go on holiday.’ But a week after I’d said that, I got the call [from Spielberg] to say I had the job. It’s one of those moments you never forget – I just fell off my chair. Which is not a good start to the horse riding.”
“I can’t stop traffic on Fifth Avenue, not unless I walk in front of an oncoming cab.”
“I dislike the size and shape of my head. I’ve been likened to Sid the Sloth from Ice Age…”
“I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.”
“I always seem to be cast as slightly wan, ethereal, troubled intellectuals or physically ambivalent bad lovers. But I’m here to tell you I’m quite the opposite in real life.”
“I’ve been broody since I was 12, but I can’t just get anyone pregnant. It has got to be the right person.”
“Having your adolescence at an all-male boarding school is just crap.”
Most Famous Roles
Eddie Redmayne
Benedict Cumberbatch
Winning the internet
Eddie Redmayne
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benenedict Cumberbatch photoboming
Trivia
Eddie Redmayne
- Is colour blind
- At the age of 12, he appeared in Sam Mendes’s West End production of Oliver as workhouse boy number 40
- Scarlett Johansson complied a whole list of films that he had to watch after discovering how little movies he had seen while shooting The Other Boleyn Girl
Benedict Cumberbatch
- His parents are both actors and played his onscreen parents in Sherlock
- In his gap year he volunteered as an English teacher in a Tibetan monastery
- Can do an impressive Alan Rickman impression
Modelling (aka best cheekbones)
Eddie Redmayne
Benedict Cumberbatch
Good luck to both Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch this awards season.