British actor Jude Law continues to make his mark in major Hollywood films and franchises, crediting his success to navigating the industry with no regrets.
“No, [I don’t have regrets]. Not really. I mean, I just don’t think you can spend your time looking back on life like that,” he said.
“You live and you learn, and part of being in a career in a creative business is that you are really learning on a daily basis because you are making different things, several different things over a short period of time with very different people, with different hopes and aspirations.”
The two-time Oscar nominee is promoting his new Disney+ series, “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” and admits he has made poor judgement calls in the past.
“One minute you can be in a low-budget indie film, the next minute you’re in a tentpole kind of franchise like ['Star Wars’] ... and you’ve got to be open to learning, open to failing, picking yourself up and getting on with it,” he said.
“I was in a really strong position [at that time] because I’d just had another [Oscar] nomination on the back of ‘Cold Mountain,’” he said.
At the box office, “Alfie” earned a little over half of its $60 million production budget worldwide, and was panned by review critics.
“For ‘Alfie’ to be the film I chose to do quite soon after that, I think was a bad move. I just felt it hadn’t elevated [the material] and felt a little light, a little too cheesy,” Law admits.
“I think it was made for too much money, and I was probably paid too much money, which I underestimated at the time. I kicked myself that I’d done something that was leaning into the heartthrob and the charismatic lead and it hadn’t worked.”
Law, whose early work included theater productions and mid-budget films, is reminiscent of that era in Hollywood, adding the industry is lacking the level of storytelling he was first introduced to.
“Some of those first films that I got to make with people like Anthony (Minghella), looking back now, it’s remarkable that we were allowed to get away with that. But it’s also an era, it’s a type of film and type of storytelling that I think we miss. Giving the correct kind of budget and time and patience to stories like that is absolutely at the heart of filmmaking, and I think it’s a gaping hole at the moment.”
Best known for his on-screen performances in “Cold Mountain” (2003), the Sherlock Holmes franchise, “The Holiday” (2006), “Fantastic Beasts,” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), Law rose to fame in the late 1990s for his roles in both mainstream and critically acclaimed films.
He had his breakthrough in 1999 for his role in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” starring alongside Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, earning him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy awards.
Law’s resume extends beyond the big screen, appearing on numerous television shows including HBO’s “The Third Day,” “Families,” and “The Young Pope.”
With 20 awards under his belt and 78 total nominations, Law has also received recognition from the Golden Globes, the British Independent Film Awards, and Critics Choice Awards, to name a few.
