To play in a charity tennis match, you either have to be really good or very funny. And I had
neither of those attributes, and it was pretty horrendous. I had Tim Henman
turn to me and say, "Stop trying to hit it so hard.
Just try and get it over the net. And I said, "Tim, I'm trying.
I'm really f***ing trying." I am Eddie Redmayne, and these random objects
that you see in front of me are 10 essential items in my life. Caveated by the fact that not a single one is essential,
but they're just things I like. I'll start with this,
a vodka and tonic. It's a simple cocktail. That's a lot of vodka tonic. This is the apparatus
to make the perfect vodka tonic in my mind. It's a simple cocktail,
but it's very easy to butcher. Here is how
I make a vodka tonic. And within that,
the essential item is about to show itself. You need a proper tumbler, like a good, thick, heavy,
satisfying-in-the-hand glass. You need a lot of ice. Fill that. Then a good squeeze of the lime. The vodka's important,
but it's not weirdly the most essential item, so, Ketel One,
great vodka. So I'm quite abstemious about the amount
of vodka at the bottom. And this is one
of my essential items, which is this
Schweppes brand of tonic. There are many pretenders
to the tonic throne. I'm in no way endorsed
by Schweppes, but this is really important to me. A can, because
it's all about the fizziness. You take the glass
up to the person you're pouring with a cold can of tonic, and then you... and you literally drink it
while you still feel the bubbles. Cheers. Mmm. My next item. A suitcase. It was given to me as a gift
about 15 years ago. It's made by Globetrotter and you click it open and it's a battered old thing, and I adore it. It was what I took
everything to set on, put scripts, computers,
everything in. And then I got cast
in <i>Fantastic Beasts</i>. And when I turned up
for the audition, the meeting with the director, I brought this case not knowing
what the piece was about. And then he started talking
about this case and how the character had this case
that was kind of essential, at which point I gently pushed
the case under my chair because I thought he might think I was one of those actors to turn up
in costume with their own props and I've basically not really
been able to walk around with one of my favourite things
in the world for a while. But now I can again,
which is wonderful. So yeah, that's
my not-quite-so-essential item. These are Salt & Vinegar Squares. I feel I know more about salt
and vinegar crisps than most things. And these are probably my favourite,
they're called Squares. You get them in most shops
in the UK. But whenever I get off a plane
having travelled, I buy Salt & Vinegar Squares. And now the great one is a Disco. In the more posh range, a sea salt
and chardonnay vinegar. I recommend that to everyone. It's so searing that it should come
with an advice warning that you have to buy
mouth ulcer cream. A Salt & Vinegar Square
is a delicious thing. This here is a candle and it's made by a company
called Cire Trudon that are a French company. Acting is quite peripatetic,
you travel a lot. And for me smell is something
that really grounds me. This company,
as far as I can work out, was created
in 16th-century France. This one's called Ernesto,
my favourite. It smells incredible. And when you light this candle, you feel like
you're in some sort of Louis XIV monastery. And it transpires as somewhere
I quite enjoy the smell of. Next. This is my paint box and paintbrushes. I have loved painting
since I was tiny. When I'm on film sets,
there's a lot of waiting around. I find if I read a book or try
and do something that is a story and a kind of narrative story, but different to the one
that I'm telling. It takes me out of the headspace, so I'm always looking for things
you can do to pass the time. And I find painting
is one of those things. I love that you paint
with a box like this and you leave the colours
you've mixed on it. And when you come back,
there's a sort of history to it. I'm deeply colour-blind,
so I could do questionable paintings I've been known to paint clouds
that are grey and s***ty brown. But I love it. I love tennis. I've loved tennis since I was a kid. This racket I was given,
I think for my 14th birthday. It's called
a Prince Precision Graphite. I know there are definitely better
tennis rackets out there in the world,
but it makes me feel very comforted. And I've always played
with this racket. Am I any good at tennis? No, not particularly. I got asked to play
a charity tennis match. It was at Queen's with Andy Murray and Tim Henman. The idea of playing sport
in front of people brings me out in hives and is quite literally
my worst nightmare. I said yes and in my head I thought,
"I can probably still play a bit." Boris Johnson was playing. Michael McIntyre,
the comedian, was playing, Jonathan Ross, the comedian,
Richard Branson were playing. And I realised very quickly as I stepped
on to court in front of hundreds of people that to play
in a charity tennis match, you either have to be
really good or very funny. And I had neither
of those attributes and it was pretty horrendous. And I played very, very badly. I had Tim Henman turn to me and say, "Stop trying to hit it so hard.
Just try and get it over the net." I said, "Tim, I'm trying.
I'm really f***ing trying." My next item is my watch. I love a watch. I'm not really
a phone-y techno watch-y person. I love being able
to tell the time old school. This is my Omega Seamaster. My dad used to have an Omega. There's a kind of a legacy thing
to them, and because
they're so beautifully made, they last well beyond
your own lifetime. And it also has
this dinky little thing, that it can...
it has one of these turning... things and it's weirdly... satisfying. This washbag was a gift
from a party after the Oscars,
the year of <i>The Danish Girl</i>. And in it are a few things
that I want to share with you. First, this stuff,
VO5 SurfStyle paste. For years this has been
my go-to product. It makes the English person
look like they have surfer hair. So that's one thing. The second thing is this. And now this is a thing,
now I mean, whenever I shave,
I get bumps, really quite bad ingrowing hairs
and things when I wet shave. And there are lots of things
that promise to deal with that. I don't think they do
except for this thing, which is made
by a brand called Anthony. You put it on after you shave
and it really stops that from happening and I really wanted
to share that with you. That's a thing. This thing, ChapStick. I have gigantic lips. There are sort of Twitter feeds about how dry and dehydrated my lips look
a lot of the time, which isn't an indictment
for this stuff except for the fact
I've tried everything else, and none of them seem to quite work
in the way that a ChapStick does. And then this. So actors... there are makeup artists
in our lives who,
for red carpets and things, make us look palatable. They're called groomers for men to try and make us feel
less emasculated somehow, which I always find interesting
because I feel like a horse or pony. But two of these wonderful women
who I've worked with in America, called Barbara and Amy, have come up with this oil. It's called Circa 1970, and it is great. They are people that know more
about skin than I do, and this is something I'd recommend. This is my next essential item. This... This is one of my favourite
items...essentials. Not essential, but lovely thing. It is a cardigan that I... I stole actually from a shoot
I did with Prada a few years ago. It is multicoloured. I can't tell quite
how vibrant and bright it is because of my colour blindness, but it definitely makes me feel
buoyant and happy when I wear it. And it's also like being given
a gigantic hug. I take it on planes with me. I love the fact
that it's sort of hand-woven and crocheted and knitted and it's also really robust. I've put this guy
through the wringer and it's still here. This here is a Theragun. I've just finished doing
a musical play in London. The West End, called <i>Cabaret</i>. The most physical thing
I've ever done. And it almost killed me. And the thing that kept me alive or my body alive was this thing, which looks like
some sort of weapon. Very good for forearms. Good for IT bands. I'm not sure I could have survived
that show without it. So this is a useful bit of kit... for people that are... tight, like me. Guys, thank you so much
for watching. Thank you, GQ Germany,
for my Man of the Year award. And if you want to see
other people's essential items, you can do that down here. Cheers.
