Stephen Hawking

Stephen King's pandemic apocalypse novel comes to life.

Watch some of Hawking’s greatest TV and film appearances, from ‘A Brief History of Time’ to ‘The Simpsons.’

It’s not surprising that the BBC made a little-known (at least to North American audiences) Stephen Hawking biopic back in 2004. This transforms into slightly interesting trivia when you realize that ‘Hawking’ stars a pre-fame Benedict Cumberbatch as the renowned theoretical physicist. However, it edges into wacky “Holy s--t!” territory when you realize that the Discovery Channel is going to re-air the film this Sunday. The same day as the Golden Globes. Where Eddie Redmayne is nominated for playing Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything.’ And where his chief rival is Cumberbatch, nominated for playing another British genius in ‘The Imitation Game.’

Stephen Hawking may be the subject of a biopic poised for Oscar gold with ‘The Theory of Everything,’ but it turns out that the renowned theoretical physicist has very different cinematic aspirations. In fact, if the ‘Brief History of Time’ author has his way, he’d play a role typically reserved for menacing European character actors: a James Bond villain.

It’s a strange thing, admiring an actor’s ability to physically act out a part when the role in question has that actor almost entirely immobilized. And what Eddie Redmayne does in portraying Stephen Hawking in 'The Theory of Everything' is physical – what Redmayne conveys and accomplishes with basically just limited facial expressions is truly remarkable. But that’s the thing: who looks at Stephen Hawking and thinks to themselves, Yeah, I could successfully portray this man in a movie?

One mere week after 'The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper got to interact (via dreamed voice-over) with one of his life-long idols Leonard Nimoy, the illustrious if socially-awkward scientist is about to get sucked into another black hole of geeking out.  Don't get up, though, we'll bring the sneak peek to you...