The film, titled 'The Danish Girl', is based on David Ebershoff's novel of the same name. It is a semi-fictionalized look at the life of Einar Wegener, a Danish painter who changed her name to Lili Elbe after becoming the first man to have sexual reassignment surgery in 1931.
"There are many people who have written Ph.D's on Lili's story. Even though it is period and under completely different circumstances than today, I'm meeting many women from the trans community and hearing their experiences," the actor said.
The film will be directed by Tom Hooper, who worked with Redmayne in 'Les Miserables'.