Albert Einstein’s name has become fairly synonymous with “genius”, the elusive designation that denotes intellectual superpower. In the case of the German patent clerk who rose to become the preeminent theoretical physicist of the Twentieth Century, the aura extends to encompass creativity, contrarianism, whimsy and sheer brilliance. Now National Geographic debuts the limited series which revisits his life form the early days of his youth in Berlin to the groundbreaking thinking that redefined modern cosmology. Executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard (who also directed an episode) Genius stars Johnny Flynn as young Einstein and Golden Globe-winner Geoffrey Rush as the scientist in his later years, a figure at the pinnacle of the “golden age of science” – a time, which can sometimes seem far in the past from today’s vantage point. The HFPA’s Jenny Cooney spoke to Rush about playing the man who in many ways redefined modern science and thinking.