{"id":35028,"date":"2025-09-21T14:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35028\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T14:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:17:11","slug":"jude-law-keeps-surprising-us-anything-less-would-be-a-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35028\/","title":{"rendered":"Jude Law keeps surprising us. Anything less would be a shock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether he\u2019s playing a surly philosopher, a hustling restaurateur or Vladimir Putin, the 52-year-old is one of Hollywood\u2019s most daring A-listers.<\/p>\n

\n Jude Law has long been a performer of uncanny malleability. Need A-list presence and bankable appeal? The 52-year-old fits the bill. He also is an actor\u2019s actor, happy
\n \u2013 no, eager \u2013 to bend his intonation and essence to a character\u2019s will. And Law does it all with a tireless work ethic that has kept him in the public eye for more than a quarter-century.\n <\/p>\n

Yet the Englishman still suffers from impostor syndrome in the company of a cinema legend. As Law sits down at the Greenwich Hotel, a Tribeca establishment co-owned by Robert De Niro, he\u2019s swiftly drawn to the silhouette of a trench-coated figure emblazoned on the wall behind me. \u201cThis,\u201d he marvels, \u201cis an awesome setting.\u201d Thinking out loud, he racks his brain for the movie from which the image is drawn. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the film is,\u201d he mutters, \u201cbut I\u2019m going to guess it\u2019s De Niro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments later, as if conjured by Law\u2019s curiosity, De Niro appears. It turns out the two-time Oscar winner was entertaining in the adjacent courtyard when he clocked Law\u2019s arrival. As the pair exchange pleasantries, De Niro informs Law that the silhouette isn\u2019t his. (I later discover it\u2019s Orson Welles from the 1949 film noir The Third Man.) When De Niro returns to his seat and it comes time to address the matter at hand \u2013 Law\u2019s craft \u2013 one of our finest living actors is suddenly at a loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel slightly embarrassed talking about this in the presence of the great Robert De Niro,\u201d Law concedes. \u201cPart of me is like, \u2018Well, let\u2019s just go and ask him because he knows better than I do – way better than I ever will.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GwynethGwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s no star who transforms quite like Law. Consider his two Oscar nominations, both for films from the late director Anthony Minghella. As the polished playboy Dickie Greenleaf in 1999\u2019s The Talented Mr. Ripley, Law paired outward entitlement with inner conflict to intoxicating effect. Four years later, he hid behind a burly beard and Southern accent as a wounded Civil War deserter in the romantic epic Cold Mountain.<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019s ever used his natural speaking voice for a role, the Southeast London native takes a moment to ponder, then concludes he hasn\u2019t. \u201cI\u2019ve got a very particular quality,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve never played someone who comes from Lewisham.\u201d It\u2019s a matter-of-fact response from an actor so immersed in process and precision that the idea of phoning in a performance or leaning on his intrinsic assets \u2013 the piercing eyes, the disarming charm, the steely vitality \u2013 is unfathomable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe keeps surprising us,\u201d says Jurnee Smollett, Law\u2019s co-star in the 2024 thriller The Order. \u201cHe keeps making a left when you think he\u2019s going to make a right, and is still so hungry to grow and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past year alone, Law has portrayed a world-weary FBI agent in The Order, a conniving space pirate in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and a surly philosopher in Ron Howard\u2019s Eden. In a particularly imposing assignment, he inhabits Russian President Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, a trenchant satire that recently drew a 10-minute ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Next, he\u2019ll be seen as a glad-handing Manhattan restaurateur in Black Rabbit, a limited series streaming on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\"LawLaw sips a cocktail at Quick Eternity in Manhattan. Photo \/ Jesse Dittmar, The Washington Post<\/p>\n

Also starring Jason Bateman as the scruffy older brother to Law\u2019s character, the kinetic crime drama meets at the intersection of The Bear, Succession and Uncut Gems. Driving the car is Law\u2019s Jake Friedken, a fake-it-till-you-make-it live wire whose furrowed brow and bulging eyes tend to betray his cocksure veneer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of flaws to this [character] that you discover that Jude is very capable and willing to show,\u201d Bateman says. \u201cI think that\u2019s probably got a lot to do with the fact that he\u2019s very in touch with his humility and his humanity. He\u2019s just kind of a real guy \u2013 who happens to be good-looking and talented and famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law still reads as sufficiently suave while sporting sweats and a tank top on this early August afternoon, having just landed in New York following a summer vacation in France. Acknowledging myriad malaises \u2013 fatigue, jet lag, dehydration \u2013 he declines coffee or a cocktail and instead downs a carafe of sparkling water. \u201cIf I start swirling and dribbling or literally falling off my chair, at least I have an excuse and you don\u2019t have to say, \u2018He\u2019s drinking martinis,\u2019\u201d Law says with a laugh. \u201cYou can say, \u2018He\u2019s drinking water and he was clearly tired.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude Law? Tired? For an actor so prolific that Chris Rock famously turned his ubiquitousness into an Oscars monologue gag, the notion is startling. His filmography isn\u2019t just busy; it\u2019s littered with treasures from our greatest auteurs, including \u2013 deep breath \u2013 Martin Scorsese (The Aviator, Hugo), Steven Spielberg (A.I. Artificial Intelligence), Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition), Nancy Meyers (The Holiday), Mike Nichols (Closer), Steven Soderbergh (Contagion, Side Effects), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes and its sequel).<\/p>\n

\u201cHis contribution to the cinematic canon,\u201d Smollett says, \u201cis so massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raised by two educators with a thirst for theatre (his mother directed local plays and his father acted in them), Law was all of 5 years old when he first stepped onstage. \u201cI grew up in a house where there was always something happening,\u201d says Law, whose older sister, Natasha, is an accomplished painter. \u201cSo I suppose my wiring is such that one should always be doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LawLaw as Jake Friedken in Black Rabbit. Photo \/ Netflix<\/p>\n

After returning to series television with Paolo Sorrentino\u2019s The Young Pope in 2016, Law at last surrendered to decompression and took the longest hiatus of his career. \u201cI just sat on the sofa and read books all year,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was amazing. But I also feel like I kind of missed a wave or two. Who knows where that would have taken me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Law promptly plunged into art house films such as Vox Lux, The Nest and Firebrand. But he also waded further into blockbuster waters, playing the two-faced Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel, a young Albus Dumbledore in two Fantastic Beasts movies and a lightsaber-wielding scoundrel in Skeleton Crew. Anti-heroes and antagonists, mentors and manipulators \u2013 as the matinee idol roles of his youth fell by the wayside, Law\u2019s choices got more interesting and his work got more daring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thrilled to watch him make this incredible and delicate pivot to occupying both lanes of being a movie star and a leading man but also a character actor,\u201d says David Lowery, who directed Law in the 2023 Disney adventure Peter Pan & Wendy and two episodes of Skeleton Crew. \u201cThat pivot is, I think, very difficult to pull off, and he has done so perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after a chunk of Law\u2019s snarling but sympathetic portrayal of Captain Hook in Peter Pan & Wendy was excised via orders from above, Lowery admired the nuance that \u2013 amid the pirate ships and pixie dust and airborne tweens \u2013 pervaded his performance. \u201cWe both were disappointed that the version of Captain Hook that we filmed did not make the final cut,\u201d Lowery says. \u201cBut I\u2019m always amazed at how I can see the glimmers of all the work that we put into it that got left on the cutting room floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Law chalks up such compromises to the \u201ccollaborative spirit of film-making\u201d. But he also has become increasingly interested in exerting more control over his career. In 2017, Law and his former assistant Ben Jackson co-founded Riff Raff Entertainment, a production company that ushered The Order and, now, Black Rabbit to the screen.<\/p>\n

\"LawLaw as Captain Hook in Peter Pan & Wendy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very odd job,\u201d Law says of acting. \u201cIf you don\u2019t get involved behind the camera, you\u2019re really only being perceived by what other people think you can do.\u201d Describing Riff Raff\u2019s guiding principle, Jackson quotes Law. \u201cJude has a phrase, \u2018Tell me something I don\u2019t know,\u2019 which we sort of stick to,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s always interesting to watch something where you think you know what you\u2019re going to get, and then it maybe flips on its head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law had just started work on The Order when its screenwriter, Zach Baylin, asked him to consider a series he was developing with his wife and creative partner, Kate Susman. Inspired by the rise and fall of many a trendy New York eatery, Baylin and Susman had cooked up a concept about the seedy underbelly that might sustain such a hot spot.<\/p>\n

\"Law'sLaw’s latest project, Black Rabbit, is on Netflix now. Photo \/ Jesse Dittmar, The Washington Post<\/p>\n

\u201cA restaurant looks glamorous,\u201d Baylin says. \u201cThen you come to the end of the night and everyone\u2019s sleeping on the trash, and there\u2019s broken bottles and there\u2019s rats. I think that Jake, Jude\u2019s character, sort of embodies that idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having got to know New York in his 20s, when he earned a Tony nod for the tragicomic play Indiscretions, Law recognised the grungy tale they wanted to tell and threw his producing weight behind Black Rabbit \u2013 despite some trepidation about his on-screen contribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of potential pitfalls,\u201d Law says. \u201cIs he just a sort of a sleazy nightclub owner? Is he a bit of a jerk? Honestly, I took him on more shouldering the responsibility as a producer who wanted to get the thing made. Then, as an actor, I always like challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the fraught fraternal bond between Law\u2019s hustling Jake and Bateman\u2019s hot mess Vince that Law locked in on as Black Rabbit\u2019s hyperstimulated heart. Finding Jake began by pinpointing the right Bateman-adjacent New York accent. (\u201cI said to Jason early on, \u2018We\u2019re obviously from Coney Island. What are you doing?\u2019\u201d Law recalls. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m doing Jason, so you better follow me.\u2019\u201d) Although Jake projects a larger-than-life personality, Law reined in his interpretation of a man whose lavish lifestyle \u2013 a penthouse apartment he can\u2019t afford, a flashy Jaguar that\u2019s falling apart \u2013 belies his deep-seated troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t ever really get the sense that he\u2019s flexing with his performance,\u201d Bateman says. \u201cHe\u2019s just trying to be real, and not really do any acting.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say it was an effortless outing from an actor who, before production commenced, sat down with Baylin and Susman to dissect every line of dialogue in the eight-episode series. \u201cIt\u2019s constantly surprising and exciting,\u201d Susman says, \u201cto have someone with his reputation work so hard and dig in so deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law showcases his character\u2019s compartmentalisation in Black Rabbit\u2019s third episode. As the camera whips through the titular restaurant during a 75-second tracking shot and Jake stumbles upon many a VIP guest \u2013 some he\u2019s considerably happier to see than others \u2013 Law delivers a clinic in careening emotion. Warmth. Exasperation. Anger. Consternation. Surprise.<\/p>\n

Although Law and Jake don\u2019t share much, the actor did relate to the exhaustion that comes with an ever-cascading avalanche of obligations and anxieties.<\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Bateman joins Law as Jake’s brother, Vince, in Black Rabbit. Photo \/ Netflix<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that sense of juggling responsibilities, feeling at times like you\u2019ve reached a point in your life where you want to sit down a little longer than you do in a day,\u201d Law says. \u201cThe responsibilities of private life, the responsibilities of work, the responsibilities of people that depend on you. I think anyone who hits their 50s has the opportunity to think, \u2018Okay, I don\u2019t know if I can keep going at this pace.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As a father of seven \u2013 including a toddler \u2013 who splits his spare time between London and New Orleans, Law has accepted there are only so many hours in the day. It pains Law, once an avid theatregoer, to say that he doesn\u2019t see much onstage nowadays. His film and television consumption is largely limited to projects connected to Riff Raff. Even then, he tends to watch things 20 minutes at a time, after the kids are put to bed and before he crashes himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch is the life,\u201d he says, \u201cof the parent of a youngster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Law is preparing to play eccentric magician Siegfried Fischbacher opposite Andrew Garfield\u2019s Roy Horn in the Apple TV+ limited series Wild Things, which begins production this fall. It\u2019s another out-there choice for an actor who revels in the eclectic. Case in point: Audiences will soon see him on the big screen as Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, Olivier Assayas\u2019s fictionalised film about a spin doctor abetting the Russian autocrat\u2019s rise to power.<\/p>\n

\"UpUp next for Law: portraying magician Siegfried Fischbacher in the Apple TV+ limited series Wild Things. Photo \/ Jesse Dittmar, The Washington Post<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven what is happening currently, it\u2019s just a really smart and insightful point of view or, shall we say, spotlight on the political ramifications that perhaps got the Russian seat of power to where it is now,\u201d Law says of the film, which is being positioned for an award-season release. \u201cThere was something immediately terrifying and incredibly exciting about the potential of playing someone who is alive and in the position that Vladimir Putin is in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attempting to articulate a through line for his body of work, Law can only speak in sprawling terms. \u201cI\u2019m going to sound possibly very pretentious,\u201d Law says. \u201cBut in the end, it has to be about some kind of truth.\u201d Looking forward, what principles will shape his choices? \u201cI think,\u201d he replies, \u201cwhat I just said is perhaps my mantra.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment has barely left Law\u2019s lips before he purses them like he just bit into something horribly sour. \u201cOh my God,\u201d he says. \u201cI sound even more pretentious.\u201d Law chuckles at his high-minded rhetoric. \u201cIf you do write all that,\u201d he says before adopting a comically snotty affect, \u201cplease, please put in, \u2018His mantra is the truth.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, we\u2019re over an hour into a conversation that, just as Law feared, has unfolded within earshot of De Niro. It speaks to his blend of hero worship, deeply English humility and jet-lagged delirium that Law can only shake his head, cackle and exclaim in self-deprecation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a wanker!\u201d<\/p>\n

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