Tom Hooper And Eddie Redmayne’s The Danish Girl Secures Fall Release Date

Just weeks after Birdman won Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards, the would-be contenders for next year’s Oscars are taking shape, with David O. Russell’s Joy and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant both set for Christmas, and Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea opening earlier that month. Now, Les Miserables director Tom Hooper and current Best Actor Eddie Redmayne (for The Theory of Everything) have thrown their hats in the ring, with Focus Features and Working Title announcing today that biopic The Danish Girl will open over Thanksgiving weekend.

November 27th is the same corridor used by The Weinstein Company to launch eventual Best Picture winner The King’s Speech (also by Hooper) and this past season’s The Imitation Game, so it’s a rather savvy move for Focus and Working Title (which led Redmayne to gold for Theory) to get to the slot first.

The Danish Girl centers on the unusual relationship between artists Einar (Redmayne) and Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander), a married couple in 1920s Copenhagen, whose bond is tested when Einar decides to become the world’s first transgender woman, at a time when trans individuals were neither socially understood nor embraced. Einar, now Lili Elbe, took great risks in order to surgically complete his transformation.

“In the tradition of Focus’ history of epic and moving love stories, The Danish Girl promises to be unforgettable,” the studio’s chief Peter Schlessel said in an official statement. Opening The Danish Girl over Thanksgiving is a surefire sign that Focus and Working Title see the film as a viable awards contender, which is all the more reason to be excited for the pic.

Currently, The Danish Girl is set for limited engagements in New York and Los Angeles. Other titles opening around Thanksgiving include The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (on November 20th), Rocky spinoff Creed, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special and Jonathan Levine’s untitled Christmas Eve comedy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen (all November 25th).