Eddie Redmayne recalls hilarious failed audition to play a Star Wars villain as he appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles

Eddie Redmayne recalled a hilarious failed audition where he had to play a Star Wars villain when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The Theory of Everything star, 42, touched down in Los Angeles this week to join the chat show host on Wednesday’s episode of the show.

During the interview, Eddie was asked about past auditions where he didn’t get the part – and he revealed that he had once played a ‘villain’ from Star Wars.

But the actor said that for some big films you don’t get a script for the audition, but instead you’re handed lines from various other projects that give a sense of who the character is — in this case Star Trek and Pride and Prejudice.

In an attempt to capture the essence of the supposed villain, Eddie recalled the audition on the flop, in which he revealed that he was trying to play Mr Darcy with a Darth Vader voice.

He told Jimmy, “I auditioned to play years ago and we weren’t told what it was. The annoying thing about auditioning for those big movies is that they don’t let you read a script, you have no idea what it is, I just knew it was for a Star Wars movie – and possibly to play a villain.

“But they don’t give you the script. So they give you similar sides, like these script pages, and from looking at them I found that they were a little bit like something out of Star Trek and a little bit like something out of Pride and Prejudice [laughs].’

“So I found myself going into this audition knowing that I was auditioning to play a Star Wars villain and I kind of did this, which I thought was kind of a Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennett scene in my Darth Vader voice was.’

The audience burst into laughter as Eddie imitated his Mr Darcy Does Darth Vader voice, before adding: ‘There was a great casting director called Nina Gold who has been very generous to me in the past.

“And I did about seven, eight takes of my sci-fi, weird, romantic, fucked-up dad voice, and finally she said, ‘Eddie… do you have anything else?’ and I was like, ‘No.’

“So she says, ‘Do you want to go?’ and I thought, “I guess I should do that.”‘

Laughing, Jimmy asked, “Do you think that if at the end of an audition they say, ‘You still have something,’ you didn’t get the part?”

“Yes, that’s usually the case,” Eddie replied.

Earlier in the day, Eddie was spotted before filming at the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio in LA.

He kept it casual, in a gray T-shirt and slim jeans, with sunglasses hanging from his collar.

Eddie completed the relaxed look with a pair of trainers, before changing into a smart suit for the chat show.

It comes after Eddie lifted the lid and became involved in the production side of thriller series The Day of the Jackal.

Eddie and his co-star Lashana Lynch, 36, who play Jackal and Bianca in the cat and mouse show, opened up Radio times about how to step into the roles and how this updated version of the story compares to the original.

The upcoming political thriller follows the 1973 film of the same name and the second English-language adaptation of the 1971 book of the same name.

Reimagined in a contemporary political setting, The Day Of The Jackal (2024) revolves around an unparalleled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, who makes his living by carrying out hits for the highest fee.

However, the Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who begins to track him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in his wake.

Chukwudi Iwuji from Guardians Of The Galaxy, Charles Dance from Game Of Thrones and Ursula Corbero from Money Heist also appear.

Eddie told the publication: ‘When I saw this in my inbox I was pretty… You don’t want to mess with something as brilliant as this, so I was a little cautious.

“What I like about the original structure, which Ronan has managed to keep, is the strange idea of ​​having two protagonists who are deeply morally compromised, making cruel choices and yet still kind of warm to both of them.”

He added that this new version makes it harder to figure out who to advocate for since the morals are “grayed.”

“We all have that blurry territory within us in some way – that idea of ​​the binary of good and evil doesn’t exist that often,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Lashana admitted that when she was approached to take on the role of Bianca, she asked to be involved in the production side as well.

The actress said she wanted to: “Protect the things that I knew I really wanted to discuss in the play.”