Eddie Redmayne is picking up plenty of awards buzz for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, and part of the reason he's so compelling is that he made strong choices in how to play the genius.  He also made a strong choice in how to play Bilbo Baggins in his audition for The Hobbit, but that didn't work out quite as well.  Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Redmayne recounted how he approached the role, and how it wasn't anywhere close to what they were looking for.  Anna Kendrick, who was also a guest on the show, made the astute observation that while we always hear about the actors who made grand overtures for a role and got the part, we never hear about the ones who swung for the fences and struck out big.

Hit the jump for Redmayne talking about his audition for The Hobbit.

Via THR.