Taylor Swift jokes about ‘nightmare’ screen test with Eddie Redmayne for Les Misérables

Taylor Swift has reflected on a screen test she did with Eddie Redmayne for the 2012 film Les Misérables.

The singer was almost cast in the movie as Éponine, but the role eventually went to British star Samantha Barks instead.

In the new episode of The Graham Norton Show, which will air on BBC One tonight (28 October), Taylor recalled the screen test she did with Redmayne, who played Marius.

“Basically I was up for two roles – I had the look of Cosette and the range vocally of Éponine, so it was established I was there for a good time but not for a long time, I wasn’t going to get the role,” she said.

“But, they asked if I would like to go to London to do a screen test with Eddie, who is one of my favourite actors, and I thought ‘This isn’t an experience I am going to get again in my life,’ so I said yes.”

She continued: “When I got there they put me in full 19th century street urchin costume and told me they were going to paint my teeth brown and I was like, ‘You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne right?’

“But no, they made me look like death and it became a nightmare. When I met Eddie I didn’t open my mouth to speak.”

Redmayne, who is also on tonight’s show alongside U2’s Bono and football star Alex Scott, had his own reasons to be self-conscious about the screen test.

“I thought we would just be singing off each other – I didn’t know we would be in each other’s arms,” he told Norton.

“My overriding memory of it is that I had had pizza and garlic dough balls beforehand and all I could think about was my garlic breath while Taylor was dying in my arms and I was trying to show emotion.”

While director Tom Hooper didn’t cast Swift in Les Mis, thanks to the screen test, he ended up casting the singer in Cats.

Swift’s latest album, Midnights, came out last week. Read The Independent’s five-star review here.

The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One on Friday 28 October at 10:40pm.