Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Miss Piggy, Gordon Ramsay, Bill Gates, Liam Neeson, Felicity Jones, Siri, and other celebs recently auditioned for one very unusual, once-in-a-lifetime role. All were competing to serve as the real-life voice of theoretical physicist — and renowned genius — Stephen Hawking.
As you probably know, Hawking has ALS, a type of motor neurone disease. He has lived far past the two-year life expectancy projection he received at the age of 21, and though he cannot speak, he communicates using a computer-based system. His cheek movements are detected and help him create words that are vocalized in a robotic voice through a synthesizer. Hawking has had the same voice for more than 30 years. But this year, he decided the time had come to switch things up.
That’s where the aforementioned celebs come into play. All joined together for one epically hilarious audition tape, filmed in conjunction with Red Nose Day, an annual fundraising campaign run by the charity Comic Relief. Today is when the U.K. celebrates Red Nose Day (in the U.S., we celebrate it on May 25), and Comic Relief unveiled all the auditions — and revealed which celeb came out on top.
And yes, for those wondering, Eddie Redmayne, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in 2014's The Theory of Everything, also threw his name into the hat — kind of. Watch the video above to see all the footage, and if you want to donate to the cause (your money goes to aid children in need), head here.