The time is certainly right for Hollywood to take on a film like The Danish Girl, which tells the true story of Lili Elbe, one of the first to receive sexual reassignment surgery. With transgender people firmly in the spotlight thanks to Caitlyn Jenner and various movies and TV programs highlighting their stories, it seems audiences are ready to see them represented in a major motion picture, as well. And The Danish Girl is indeed a major project, one that is firmly expected to be a contender when the Oscars race gears up this fall.
Directed by Tom Hooper and starring Eddie Redmayne who he worked with on Les Miserables, the film centers on the relationship between Danish artist Einar Wegener and his wife, fellow artist Gerda Gottlieb, played by the red-hot Alicia Vikander. Einar would undergo sexual reassignment surgery in 1930 to become a woman, renaming himself Lili Erbe, which led to the dissolution of his marriage to Gerda. But as the first trailer released today shows, Lili's blossoming sexual identity was long coming and filled his marriage with moments of both joy and extreme sadness.
What's interesting is that this is a project which has been attempted under various forms over the years. In nearly every incarnation it was two females in the lead roles; Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Charlize Theron were headliners at different stages, but when Hooper came aboard he flipped the idea completely by casting Redmayne. It looks to have been a decision that will pay off greatly.
Also starring Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Ben Whishaw, The Danish Girl opens on November 27th.
