Will Redmayne Nab The Oscar Again?

Eddie Redmayne first received the script for The Danish Girl while he was shooting the movie musical Les Misérables. In Les Mis, Redmayne played Marius Pontmercy, the charming vocal tenor and love interest of Amanda Seyfried's Cosette. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Redmayne was quite literally in the middle of a shoot, when Les Mis director Tom Hooper placed the fateful script envelope into Redmayne's hands. Unfortunately, The Danish Girl took many years to see to see the light of day, as it was once described as "commercial poison" by scriptwriter Lucinda Coxon, due to the film's subject matter — the true story, life, and journey of a trans woman. Can you even believe that nonsense? Fast forward to today, in 2015, where a movie about a trans woman starring a big-name star is no longer viewed a Hollywood risk, but an overdue necessity. That said, will the importance of this film allow Eddie Redmayne to win an Oscar for The Danish Girl?

I strongly believe that he’ll receive a nomination for Best Actor, which is a solid first step to actually winning Best Actor. Here are the five major reasons why he could possibly end up taking home yet another little gold statue come this February.

1. It's Directed By Academy Award-Winning Director Tom Hooper

Remember The King's Speech back in 2010? The film went on to nab Best Picture and Hooper took home the award for Best Director. Needless to say, Hooper has and knows what it takes to elevate a film to Academy Awards status.

2. The Oscars Love A Biopic

After all, that's how Redmayne scored his first Oscar last year for his knock-out performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. For the movie, he spent four months researching Hawking's life and worked with a choreographer to perfect the details of his movements in portraying a man with ALS, Variety reported.

His acceptance speech still brings tears to my eyes:

According to Variety, for his role as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, Redmayne was just as dedicated to the craft of taking on another person's life story onscreen. He lost 15 pounds and used videos online to guide him in finding the right vocal pitch for Lili.

3. The Oscars Also Love British Actors

Just look at last year's Academy Awards — in addition to Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch was also up for Best Actor. In 2013, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Christian Bale were both nominated for the award and in 2010, Colin Firth won for The King's Speech. Here, The Telegraph showcases the very long history of U.K. actors and actresses who've won the gold, for all you Anglophiles and Oscar historians out there.

4. The Danish Girl Is An Important Film

Telling the story of the first woman to ever undergo gender confirmation surgery is a much-needed conversation for all humans.

5. Redmayne Would Be The First Actor To Win Best Actor Back-To-Back In About 20 Years & The Oscars Love A Repeat Winner

While this neat-o fact has nothing to do with Redmayne's acting abilities, it does make for an excellent, historic Oscars tale. Tom Hanks was the last actor to win Best Actor back-to-back in 1993 and 1994 for his roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

So while Redmayne's chances are looking quite good, he's still got a couple of major obstacles that may knock him out of the running for a second win — their names are Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) and Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), according to publicist who spoke to the Los Angeles Times. While Redmayne winning back-to-back makes for a good story, needless to say, DiCaprio winning his first, long-overdue Oscar would be the story to end all stories. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there — for now, my money's on Redmayne. The Danish Girl will see a limited release in theaters on Nov. 27.

Images: Focus Features; Giphy (4)