Jude Law has revealed he gorged himself on ‘late night ice cream’ as part of his ‘extreme’ transformation into a bloated Henry VIII.
Speaking with The Sunday newspaperThe 51-year-old Closer actor said his makeover for the period drama was his “most extreme transformation yet,” while also reflecting on some of the down moments in his career, which saw him struggle with a string of flops.
In the film, Jude stars opposite Alicia Vikander, who plays Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, a pitiful incarnation of the king who could barely walk at the time, weighed 26 pounds and required nine men to lift him onto his horse.
Talking about how he arrived for the role, he said, “It was a process.
‘Like Charlie Chaplin or Father Christmas, Henry has a familiar silhouette, so when you get that shape, the brain fills in a lot of the gaps. So I grew a beard. I had bodysuits, clothes, weights on my legs, bits in my shoes to perfect his gait.
Jude Law has revealed he indulged in ‘late night ice cream’ as part of his ‘extreme’ transformation into a bloated Henry VIII
The Closer actor revealed his makeover for the period drama was his “most extreme transformation yet” (pictured with co-star Alicia Vikander)
‘I only had four months to prepare, so I couldn’t gain my full weight, but I did eat a lot – pasta and ice cream late at night – so I got a bigger face.
He added bluntly that he sometimes saw him as a “paraplegic gorilla,” as if he had great strength but could not move, in a way that made him “strangely helpless.”
The acting icon believes Firebrand is in fact about ‘surviving domestic abuse’ and describes his character as ‘a gangster – a former star player left to rot’.
The London-born star, originally from Lewisham, was a Hollywood darling between the 1990s and early 2000s after his legendary performances in films including The Talented Mr Ripley, Closer, Cold Mountain, Road To Perdition and AI.
In 2004 he became Alfie Cartwright for the remake of the romantic comedy Alfie, for which Jude was paid £6 million – but he admitted that he ‘probably paid too much’.
Not long after, he became the subject of a Chris Rock’s joke at the Oscars, comparing him to Tom Cruise.
“Why is he in every movie I’ve seen for the last four years?” the comedian joked, but Jude admitted he found it “disturbing.”
‘Attention wanes when your films don’t make a lot of money.
Starring Alicia Vikander, who plays Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, Jude is transformed into a miserable incarnation of the king who could barely walk at the time
‘I only had four months to prepare, so I couldn’t bulk up to my full weight, but I did eat a lot – pasta and ice cream late at night – so I had a bigger face,’ he revealed.
The London-born star, originally from Lewisham, was a Hollywood darling between the 90s and early 2000s after his legendary performances in films such as The Talented Mr Ripley (pictured with Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow), Closer, Cold Mountain, Road To Perdition
‘There is a clear system of levels that determines who gets what first. If the work is not coming in so smoothly, you have to think about what you want to do.’
Jude’s most recent project, the historical crime film The Order, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August and will be available on Prime Video.
Jude’s performance as Terry Husk, a former FBI agent who takes on the real-life white supremacist group The Order, received a seven-minute standing ovation at the festival.
Of his character he said: ‘There was something lived-in about him, something I liked.
“There was a lot of talk about facial hair, but all the officers I interviewed had moustaches, so it was a given that I had to grow one.”
Other leading roles are played by Alison Oliver, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett and Nicholas Hoult.
Nicholas plays The Order’s leader Bob Mathews, an American neo-Nazi who led the white supremacist group in 1983.
Nicholas revealed that the film’s director, Justin Kurzel, gave each actor a “manifesto” for their character, including tasks they had to complete.
“I just found out on the boat here that one of Jude’s jobs was to follow me around for a day!” he said.
“He followed me for a day when I landed in Calgary.”
The Order is based on the 1989 biography The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt.
It was written by Zach Baylin and distributed by Prime Video (via Amazon MGM Studios).
While it is a Prime Video film, Vertical has acquired partial rights to the film and will have a limited theatrical release on December 6, 2024.
At The Order’s Venice Film Festival press conference, Jude spoke about the film’s importance at a time of resurgence of far-right ideologies.
In 2004, he became Alfie Cartwright for the remake of the romantic comedy Alfie, for which Jude was paid £6million – but he admitted he ‘probably got paid too much’ (pictured at the afterparty of Alfie’s London premiere with ex Sienna Miller in 2004)
“There’s a clear system of levels of who gets offered what first, and if the work doesn’t come in that freely, you have to think about what you want to do,” he said bluntly about the film industry.
Jude’s latest project, the historical crime film The Order, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August and will be available on Prime Video. (Cast pictured left: Matias Garrido, Nicholas Hoult, Jurnee Smollett, director Justin Kurzel, Jude, Tye Sheridan and Philip Lewitski)
“Unfortunately, the relevance speaks for itself,” he said. “It felt like a piece that needed to be done now. It’s always interesting to find a piece from the past that has a relevant relationship to the present.”
Director Justin agreed with Law, adding that the parallels to today’s world made the film so interesting to make.
It’s always special when you find a piece of text or an event from the past that has some kind of perspective that can have a conversation with the politics of today. That’s a rare gem. So we felt that there was a lot being said about today.