The Two Einsteins: Behind the Scenes | Genius

[music playing]

RON HOWARD: We began thinking about how we would tell the story of Albert Einstein, and Geoffrey Rush instantly was at the top of our list.

GIGI PRITZGER: The thing that has been so gratifying to watch in Geoffrey's performance of Einstein is the different shadings that he brings to the character-- A lot to consider, I know.

GIGI PRITZGER: --and the mischievous, humorous side of Einstein without-- I know. [laughter]

GIGI PRITZGER: --jeopardizing the seriousness and the weightiness of the material.

RON HOWARD: Once we found Geoffrey would be interested, then the question was, well who can we find, who can we match him up with, because that had to be remarkable.

KEN BILLER: Johnny Flynn read for the part and was put on tape in London, and I looked at Ron, and he looked at me, and we both knew that this guy was so much more interesting than any other actor that we had seen for the role.

GEOFFREY RUSH: Johnny and I then met up in London before the shoot started, and he suggested, he had a mentor at Central School of Speech and Drama that he went to, and he said it would be really great to get together and just muck around with, you know, how do we walk, how do we-- where's our center of gravity, how much changes, looking at how his behavior manifested pre-fame and post-fame.

--is not absolute.

JOHNNY FLYNN: How fast are his thoughts, what's his relationship to the future, to tomorrow, like how often does he think about eating lunch? You know, those are the sorts of things that you think about. And then we thought of a series of characters. We had a lot of fun bringing in-- oh, there's a twinkle of Harper Marx, so there's a tiny bit of Charlie Chaplin, there's a tiny bit-- these kind of quite sweet and cheesy kind of situations, but they were really helpful.

--blind regurgitation and rote memorization is not an education.

GEOFFREY RUSH: Well, I noticed in the very early footage in the teenage years, he was very rebellious and very anti-authoritarian, hated the German militaristic sensibility. I'm not a communist. I'm an internationalist.

GEOFFREY RUSH: And was quite outspoken and forthright, but sometimes lacking in confidence. And I noticed in some of the early footage where Johnny would kind of be licking his lips and just that hadn't yet found assurance and authority.

RON HOWARD: The work they've done together and now separately is absolutely stunning. It's remarkable to direct. It's exciting to watch. I think people are really going to be entertained, fascinated, moved, and really excited by the performances both the these men are doing.