Behind the Scenes with Geoffrey Rush | Genius

[music playing]

Hello, my name is Geoffrey Rush and I play Albert Einstein the older. I was four when Albert Einstein died. So everything I know about him is more from the legend that he became because he was almost like a cult figure in a way. Einstein was a very complex theoretical physicist.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: What is time? It is the key to understanding relativity. It is also the reason my hair is going grey.

[laughter]

GEOFFREY RUSH: I've enjoyed it enormously because you think you're going to have to go in act being a genius every day on set. Action!

GEOFFREY RUSH: But there's a kind of clown-like naivety in his persona.

(LAUGHING) Cut. That's a cut!

GEOFFREY RUSH: Rumor has it that he was regarded as being quite dopey, and they thought he might have been a bit of a slow starter in his childhood.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: To truly grasp the idea of time we must take a step back and ask what is light?

GEOFFREY RUSH: But his daydreaming ended up being his greatest strength. This is one of the great parts. And the scale of it is so big.

[streetcar bell]

GEOFFREY RUSH: This is the first National Geographic fully scripted drama series. So Ron was very keen to take the elements of Einstein's life, let it not fall into the trap of being a bio pic.

RON HOWARD: Keep it personal like that, Michael. I really like how conversational that was. OK.

GEOFFREY RUSH: Because the story of Einstein's life sandwiched between a major golden breakthrough period of science from the late 19th century through the devastation of two world wars.

Hey, Einstein! Stop! May I have your autograph, sir?

GEOFFREY RUSH: He wanted that to have real dramatic kick.

Bruno! Back here now. When I grow up, I want to be a scientist just like you.

Germany ho! Cut! Cutting.

GEOFFREY RUSH: The whole series is about an epoch. And a [inaudible] on a level that will be exciting rather than rigid and formal.