Some actors have to master a difficult accent or wear an uncomfortable costume to pull off a role. “Genius” stars Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn needed to learn some theoretical physics.
Their roles as the older and younger Albert Einstein, respectively, demanded that they rapidly rattle off complex equations as if delivering lines of casual conversation. (As befits two men playing the same person, they sometimes finished each other’s sentences in an interview with TheWrap.)
“We had to reel off equations and we had no… clue what we were saying,” Flynn said.
“I did,” stage-whispered Rush.
“He did,” Flynn agreed. “Except we had to learn just which was the important bit. That was the key element.”
“Help us fake it,” said Rush, who won a Best Actor Oscar in 1997 for his role in “Shine.”
You can watch the two Einsteins’ dual interview in the video above.
National Geographic’s “Genius” portrays both Einstein’s early life as a struggling patent clerk trying to get a teaching job and doctorate, and as an older man who developed the theory of relativity. The second season of the series will focus on another genius, Pablo Picasso.
The anthology’s executive producers include Ron Howard and Brian Glazer.