First Look: Eddie Redmayne in 'The Danish Girl'

The first trailer for “The Danish Girl” was released this morning, featuring the first look at actor Eddie Redmayne in action. He definitely stuns as trans pioneer Lili Elbe opposite actress Alicia Vikander as Elbe’s wife Gerda Wegener.

While many in the trans community decried yet another instance of a cis actor playing a trans role, Redmayne has been open about the necessity of doing the project justice. In an interview with Out Magazine, he shared that he enlisted a few prominent trans women — activist Paris Lees, former model April Ashley and film director Lana Wachowski — to bring him up to speed on the experiences of trans women.

In the same interview Lees said, “As a trans woman, I don’t think that if and when they make a biopic of my life I would want a cisgender man playing me. Politically, it makes me groan. But if anybody’s going to do this justice, then I’m happy it’s Eddie. We had a good chat about everything.”

Even though Hollywood has another cis man playing a trans woman, it seems Redmayne did a lot of work and research to understand struggles within the trans community. Give the trailer a look and share your thoughts in the comments section below or on Twitter!