At the age of 51, Jude Law has once again taken over the title of the man of the moment. This is all thanks to his role in The Order and his entry into a galaxy far, far away in the upcoming Disney+ show Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
Law has starred in over 80 projects in his career spanning over 3 decades. While some of them have been incredibly rewarding for him, others have not done all that well to the point that people barely know about them. There are two such films that the two-time Academy Award nominee thinks fans should have seen, but the thing is that the small number of people who have seen it are not very impressed.
Jude Law Believes These 2 Poorly Rated Films Deserve More Recognition
Jude Law began to grow an interest in performing when he was very young and began acting in the National Youth Music Theatre. Never a fan of school, he dropped out at 17 to pursue acting full-time. He played several stage roles and small roles in films before landing his first major leading role in the crime drama, Shopping.
Law’s role as Lord Alfred Douglas in the 1997 Oscar Wilde biopic, Wilde earned him even more recognition. His career saw new heights after he portrayed the charming, entitled, and manipulative Dickie Greenleaf in the psychological thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Since then, he has starred in some of the most popular films such as the Fantastic Beasts franchise and the Sherlock Holmes movies.
These days, he is promoting his action thriller, The Order, and the show, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. During his recent interview with Collider, host Steve Weintraub asked him if there were any projects on his resume that he wished more had seen.
Law revealed that the movies, The Nest and Firebrand did not do too well because the first one was released during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the release of the other one had to be delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
It’s sometimes heartbreaking when you’re very proud of the work and the part you played, or the piece as a whole, and you want people to see it.
Weintraub said that Law did a great job in the historical thriller, Firebrand. However, its 57% critics’ score and 69% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes tells a different story. The Nest, on the other hand, has a critics’ score of 90%, but an audience score of 40%. Perhaps if they had gotten more exposure, they could have done better.
Jude Law Revealed the Oscar-nominated Role He Would Love to Reprise
During the same interview, when Weintraub asked which character Law would like to have played for just one more day, he said it would be Dickie Greenleaf. It was this character that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. However, in an interview with GQ, he had once revealed that he almost did not play it.
The Holiday actor’s reasoning for turning down the role three times was his fear of being typecast as “charming, handsome man”. Luckily, director Anthony Minghella did not give up on him easily. Law said:
I mistook Dickie as just a good-looking guy on a boat. And of course what [Minghella] saw were all these layers of complexity: a guy on the run; a guy who’s spoiled; a guy who’s sort of pretending to be something he’s not really. He slowly encouraged me to make that jump.
It was this jump of faith that earned him both of his Oscar nominations; the first one for The Talented Mr. Ripley and the second one for Cold Mountain, which marked his reunion with Minghella.
Frequently asked questions
Which two underrated Jude Law films does the article focus on?
The article centers on two of Jude Law’s lesser-seen films: The Nest, a drama whose theatrical run was hit by the COVID-19 lockdown, and Firebrand, a period drama (framed as a historical thriller) whose release was delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strike. Law says he is proud of both and wishes more people had seen them.
What did Jude Law actually say about these films?
In a Collider interview, Law called the experience bittersweet, saying it is “sometimes heartbreaking when you’re very proud of the work and the part you played, or the piece as a whole, and you want people to see it.” The article frames the films’ low visibility as a result of unlucky release timing rather than poor quality.
How were The Nest and Firebrand rated by critics and audiences?
Per the Rotten Tomatoes figures cited in the article, The Nest held a strong 90% critics’ score but only a 40% audience score, while Firebrand sat at 57% from critics and 69% from audiences. The piece highlights that critic-versus-audience gap and the films’ limited reach rather than calling them outright failures. (RT scores can shift over time.)
