Eddie Redmayne is "quite astonished" by the success of Jamie Dornan, Andrew Garfield and Robert Pattinson

Speaking to The Independent, Eddie shared: "We were just a group of dreamers trying to become actors. And we'd all been told that it was an impossible trade - and it is an impossible trade, just as the amount of unemployment is so extreme - so we're all quite astonished that we're still here and working.

"It's a weird one, though, because in the early days it was profoundly intense, because we were all competing against each other for everything. So these were friendships that were certainly wrestled through, but always with great love and respect."

Eddie loves that he and his friends still have so much in common, and that they have been through so many similar life experiences.

The actor explained: "It's so lovely to be navigating such odd terrain yet having pals going through similar things who you can call up. And it evolves, too. Like, how do you negotiate being an actor and being a parent? How do you negotiate deciding whether to go off and do a job for eight months?"

Despite this, Eddie insisted he never did any "crazy" things when they were living together in Los Angeles.

He said: "I wish we'd done more crazy s*** 20 years ago, just so we'd have more things to spew up on the Jimmy Kimmel show. But the material is running pretty dry at this point."