The Theory of Everything, the new biopic of Stephen Hawking, has been hugely anticipated across the UK and even more so here in Cambridge, where its story takes place. It was released in America at the start of November, after a September world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and it has so far received almost universal praise, especially for Eddie Redmayne. Unfortunately, British cinema-goers will have to wait until New Year’s Day for their chance to see it.

James Marsh, the film’s director, is best known for his Academy Award-winning documentary Man on Wire. He describes that as a "turning point’ in his career. In fact, Man on Wire lead directly to The Theory of Everything; a producer and screenwriter on the 2008 documentary sent James the script, seeing “similarities in the emotional world of both stories.” The honesty of the script and the story it told intrigued James from the off. “It had real emotional complexity and I didn't really know how to do it at first – which is true of all the projects I take on. You go on a journey with the material and it is necessary to start out blind and ignorant.” Reassuringly, Professor Hawking gave his tacit approval to the script at the start of the development, and was supportive of the project, meeting with Eddie Redmayne during his preparation. This support, James says, was much appreciated; “[Hawking] offered us the use of his signature 'electronic voice' to use in the film – which replaced the one we had created via our sound team. It made a big difference to the final act of the film and I was very grateful.”

Although based on the memoir of Stephen’s ex-wife Jane, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, the film’s script, from Anthony McCarten, covers a specific period of time. It focuses on the relationship between the couple, with Felicity Jones portraying Jane. According to James, this was a good way to go; “Making the film about a relationship – as opposed to telescoped biography of a life – made for a more interesting structure and gave another, more unusual perspective onto the career and the science.”

For this reason the film avoids a focus on the Professor’s scientific endeavours: “[it] isn’t actually a biography of Professor Hawking or the story of his career. It is a portrait of his first marriage.” However, some physics inevitably crept in, in spite of the complexity of Professor Hawking’s research. There’s only so much familiarising a non-physicist can do with his work though, warns James. “Professor Hawking is a theoretical physicist and mathematics at its most daunting is the language used to describe and explore his ideas. That is completely beyond me and indeed the purview of the film.” While he insists that “a movie isn't really the best medium to discuss abstractions of mathematics,” James cites Darren Aronofsky’s Pi as “the only film that I have seen that has managed to broach [this]… Interestingly, the character in that film goes completely mad because of it – and thus the film ends up being about madness created by mathematics.” He did, however, read Hawking’s seminal work, A Brief History of Time – “accessible and playful and very helpful” – and hopes that if he was able to comprehend a concept, the audience will similarly understand without his having to labour them. “I always liked the story of Isaac Newton and the apple and Archimedes jumping into his bath – so I took those anecdotes to heart as I tried to represent some of Professor Hawking's ideas.”

Much of the filming took place on-site in Cambridge, utilising various colleges and their grounds, which students will recognise in the film. There’s even a May Ball scene, for which three identical fireworks displays had to be put on. A slightly reluctant Oxonian, James found being from a similar university world made working alongside some of the people involved in the film easier. “The fact that I was at least Oxbridge seemed to make me a bit more acceptable, despite my scruffy appearance and uncouth tendencies.” A comparison between the two institutions seemed inescapable: “it was interesting to spend some time around the university in Cambridge – it felt quite a bit smaller than Oxford – and purer, too. Its antiquity is more concentrated and it all felt very soothing.”

Parallels are being made between The Theory of Everything and Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game, released in the UK earlier this month and featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. The film follows the life of Alan Turing, another celebrated Cantab, as he works on breaking the Nazi’s Enigma code during the Second World War. However, James is wary of too close a comparison. “Both films have strong biographical elements [but] no two lives are the same. And in this case, the differences between the two characters seem much more pronounced than any similarities.” The Imitation Game was also shown at Toronto, having premiered a few weeks previously, and is similarly tipped for the awards season but James is not worried about overlap: “I can see why reviewers might make the connection but I think the films will be distinct enough not to get in each other’s way.”

The Theory of Everything has met with acclaim so far, including a standing ovation at its premiere. Despite this celebration of his work, James says that “the best part of showing a film for the first time in public is that you can then let it go. You can have no further influence on its life or reception.” Although award nominations are constantly whispered –it’s difficult to read anything about Eddie Redmayne at the moment without the word ‘Oscar’ being mentioned – James seems a little hesitant to dwell on such things right now. “This kind of speculation is not a burden the film needs at this stage… The actors in the film are truly astonishing and they deserve any praise they get.”

It has even been reported that Stephen Hawking himself was moved to tears at the premiere. Having already been “very gracious” in his support for the film, his positive response seems like the final piece of a successful puzzle; “From what I understand, he has ‘liked’ The Theory of Everything on his Facebook page.”

Read our review of Theory of Everything here, ahead of its UK release