Los Angeles, Dec 19 (IANS): Actor Eddie Redmayne says he had a meltdown while filming "The Theory of Everything".

The actor plays physicist Stephen Hawking in the biopic, but struggled with his first day filming as he had to shoot several scenes at different stages of the professor's battle with motor neurone disease, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Speaking to Mr. Porter magazine, he said: "The first scene was at the start of the film, pre-diagnosis. The second was when Stephen was using two walking sticks. By the third, he was in his second wheelchair. I was terrified. It was like I'd been asked to write a sentence in permanent ink starting with one word at the beginning, one at the middle and one at the end."

Redmayne added: "I was having a complete meltdown - it was four in the morning, I was getting picked up at five, and I hadn't slept. I was thinking, 'I can't start a job like this'."

Redmayne even had to take some time off after shooting wrapped up to "remember" who he was again.

"After inhabiting so many different personae, both mentally and physically, I suppose I needed to take some time off just to remember who I am."