First look: Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking

The first shots of Eddie Redmayne playing Professor Stephen Hawking have emerged from the set of 'Theory of Everything'.

The biopic is being filmed on what appears to be a windswept Camber Sands in East Sussex, and shows Redmayne almost unrecognisable in the role.

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The pics also show him being carried around the set so that his costume isn't ruined by the frisky tide.

The film tells the story of Hawking's relationship with his first wife, Jane Wilde, played in the film by Felicity Jones.

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Hawking himself has visited the set of the film a number of times while filming in Cambridge, where he currently works at his former university, and is said to approve of the casting of Redmayne – recently voted one of Vanity Fair's best-dressed men.

The film also stars Emily Watson, Maxine Peake and David Thewlis, and has been adapted from the memoir 'Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen', written by Jane Hawking.

It will show how the pair met at Cambridge in the 1960s, along with Hawking's diagnosis of motor neurone disease aged just 21.

Redmayne, who shot to international acclaim playing Marius in Tom Hooper's 'Les Miserables', joins Benedict Cumberbatch in playing the acclaimed physicist.

The 'Star Trek' and 'Fifth Estate' star played him in the BBC production 'Hawking'.

Hawking's book 'A Brief History of Time' has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

Hear what Redmayne has to say about playing Hawking below...