Eddie Redmayne

Seven Rocky pictures. Which Stallone is pretty much solely responsible for. Which made Hollywood exactly $1,285,192,797. Just so we’re clear, that’s 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. In the words of John Malkovich’s Russian character in “Rounders,” “Give dat man his Mah-neee!” No, wait—that’s what Stallone gave Hollywood. So—“Give dat man his Oscar!” Enough said.

You clean toilets for a living. Imagine getting suddenly transported to a distant planet, shown ancient halls glowing with a thousand candles, and a stone replica of you—carved a million years ago.

His performance is already generating Oscar rumors. In “The Theory of Everything,” Eddie Redmayne is legendary physicist Stephen Hawking, embodying not only Hawking’s razor-sharp wit, humor, and love of life, but also the physical brittleness brought on by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

“Theory” is very much about Jane’s devotion to Stephen and the three children they would have together.

Next on the Big Screen in November 2014...