The Danish Girl is a 2015 British-American romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 fictional novel of the same name by David Ebershoff and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener.The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, Alicia Vikander as Wegener, Ben Whishaw as Henrik, Sebastian Koch as Dr. Kurt Warnekros, Amber Heard as Ulla Paulson and Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans Axgil.