The new film "The Theory of Everything" offers a rare glimpse into Stephen Hawking’s extraordinary career as a physicist, but it also details his struggles with the brutal disease that requires the brilliant scientist to use a wheelchair.
Hawking is best known for his theories about space-time and black holes, but the new examines his personal relationship with his first wife, and his battle with and his struggle with
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
, often referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease, the
LiveScience Website reports.
James Marsh, the film’s director, says the movie is not a biopic of Hawking's life — it's a portrait of a relationship. Of course, Hawking's illness plays a huge part in that relationship, Marsh told LiveScience.
"It's like a bomb that goes off in a family — it resonates across all the people that have contact with that family," he said.
Based on Jane Hawking's memoir "Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen" (Alma Books, 2008), the film weaves together the story of Stephen and Jane's marriage, with that of his illness and his pursuit of a “theory of everything.”
Actor Eddie Redmayne portrays Hawking, an able-bodied and rakish young man who, as the film goes on, undergoes a steady physical decline, losing the ability to walk, feed himself and ultimately even speak.
"When I got the part, the stakes felt pretty high," Redmayne told reporters at a press event. "Firstly, you're depicting a living human being who is also an icon, and telling his family story. And secondly, you're representing a brutal disease."
To prepare for the part, Redmayne met with patients at an ALS clinic in London. He also studied photographs and a video of Hawking in zero gravity.
The film is slated for release in the U.S. on Friday, Nov. 7.
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