TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. And my guest today is award-winning actor Jude Law. In his new Netflix series, "Black Rabbit," he plays the owner of one of New York's most exclusive restaurants, a man who is magnetic and successful, but also deeply compromised, his judgment clouded, his loyalties divided. His name is Jake Friedken. And when his estranged brother, played by Jason Bateman, returns with dangerous debts, the world he's built begins to fall apart. Here's how we first meet Jake - describing his restaurant with a tense foreshadowing of what's to come.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK RABBIT")
JUDE LAW: (As Jake Friedken) I want to say something quick. For those of you who don't know who I am, get the [expletive] out. No.
(LAUGHTER)
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) I'm Jake, and....
(CHEERING)
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Yeah, yeah. I own the place.
(APPLAUSE)
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) All right, all right. Wow. This is the kind of party Black Rabbit was built for.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Yeah, baby. Whoo.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Yeah. When we set out to create this place, we never wanted it to be just a restaurant. We wanted to build a home for our family, friends, our people.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Whoo. Yes.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) A place you could come for a drink, a smoke, for the best burger in New York.
(CHEERING)
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Beautiful (ph), Roxie.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) A place where the night could go anywhere.
(LAUGHTER)
MOSLEY: Law isn't only the lead. He's also an executive producer shaping the series' vision of New York City's nightlife, a world that's as glamorous as it is treacherous. The series begins streaming today.
Over the last three decades, Law has moved fluently between independent films, Hollywood blockbusters and stage work in London and New York. He's been nominated for two Academy Awards and is known for roles that walk the line between charm and danger, from Dickie Greenleaf in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" to "Closer," "Cold Mountain" and the "Sherlock Holmes" films, as well as the "Fantastic Beast" series. Jude Law, welcome to FRESH AIR. So let's talk a little bit about your character, Jake, and his brother, played by Jason Bateman. This is not a Cain and Abel-type story. This is not good versus evil. Both of you all are pretty messed up (laughter). How would you describe your character, Jake?
LAW: Well, the brothers and their relationship sit in the foreground of a piece that's also about a particular slice of New York life and, I hope, sort of any city's life. It's about pulling together a team and providing a kind of hot spot for, you know, the movers and the shakers and all the dynamics that go on behind the scenes of that kind of establishment - the complexities, the relationships, the pressures. And the brothers who had built this place, this venue, are kind of reflections of all the complexities. And one of them, my character, Jake, is the sort of frontman, the veneer, you know, with a smile and a shoeshine and, for all accounts, seems to be very successful, very smooth, a great person at juggling issue, problem, people management. And Vince, played by Jason, is more of the sort of creative, anarchic idea guy, but not great at following through. And he's disappeared. He comes back and sort of shakes it all up. But what you realize is that actually, there's a whole lot of issues going on...
MOSLEY: Yep.
LAW: ...Behind the curtain, if you like, of Jake. And Vince's arrival really just sort of pulls that curtain apart.
MOSLEY: You use the word veneer to describe your character, that he has, like, this perfect veneer. But that's just the surface because underneath, as you said, there's a lot of complexity. He's got a lot of challenges. I want to play a clip where he's talking to his brother, Vince, as we said, played by Jason Bateman, and he's talking about the truth with his finances. And in this clip, it all kind of comes together where we start to learn it's not on the up and up inside of this restaurant. Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK RABBIT")
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) You bet Mom's money on the Knicks.
JASON BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) A lot of people bet the Knicks, Jake. They're a professional basketball team.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) And the money you got from the restaurant?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) This the one you and Naveen kicked me out of?
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Yeah, bailed you out. Bailed you out. Saved your [expletive] ass.
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) Yes.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) You gambled that, too, right? Then you go down to Junior, take a loan on the house, you bet it again, lost it all. And then you skip town. Sound right?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) Sounds like the least favorable way you could possibly phrase it. But, yeah, you're all caught up.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) And I got to ask 'cause the suspense is killing me. What happened to your shoes, Vince?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) I got a sweet number on the bus.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken, laughing) You sold your shoes.
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) I took 500 bucks, and I'm chipping away at it. I'm doing my part, Giggles.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken, laughing) Yeah.
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) OK? I did it on my way home from getting my finger chopped off...
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Well...
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) By those damn zeros who say Gen is next. You're helping me.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) They said that? They said Gen is next?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) That's exactly what they say.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) How much do you owe them, Vince?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) 140. Big number.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Hundred and forty grand?
BATEMAN: (As Vince Friedken) It's a big number. There was juice.
LAW: (As Jake Friedken) Jesus.
MOSLEY: That's my guest Jude Law in scene with Jason Bateman in the new Netflix series "Black Rabbit." I know that you're the executive producer on this, and you initially thought about Jason as a director.
LAW: Yes.
MOSLEY: How did it come to be, then, he's your brother and he's that particular brother?
LAW: I believe the order was we were developing this piece, and when it became apparent that, you know, it was time to sort of go out, find the director who's going to bring and breathe life into it, we kept referencing "Ozark" and the tonality of "Ozark," that sort of dark, human but humorous pitch that Jason also has as a performer. And he fortunately saw what we saw in the scripts and came on board as a director, wanted to throw himself behind it. And we hadn't found a brother for me. And it just became apparent to me. Well, he should - you know, he's such a great actor, and what a great asset. Why don't - do you want to be one of the brothers? And he has this incredible quality, I think, to be likable. And it seemed like if we could have a Vince that had all this, you know, track record...
MOSLEY: And we still kind of like him.
LAW: ...But you still kind of forgive him...
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: ...And he still - can still kind of be the funniest guy in the room and the most entertaining and...
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: ...Charismatic. And, yeah, fortunately, he saw that. And so that's how we became the brothers.
MOSLEY: This fascinating world - New York nightlife, behind the kitchen, you know, getting to see all the dramas and things like that. And your character, in particular, he's a New Yorker. You're this New York archetype. You've even got a New York accent that kind of comes out. Did you study any particular person or accent or anything to kind of embody that?
LAW: Yeah, Jake's a kind of amalgamation of a few people I know who had similar jobs. The voice came from working with a coach, and the trick I find that helps is to be very specific about an accent. Like, you can't just say it's a sort of general New York. It's like, OK, what are the - where did he grow up, and what do the parents sound like? And obviously, I had Jason as a brother, so I also had to go towards what Jason sounds like. And you have to give the accent a kind of history, otherwise you're generalizing. And...
MOSLEY: So you did that for this character in particular, where you made a person out of this person?
LAW: Well, that's how I just like to do it.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: I go back, and you go, where was he born and what was his childhood like, and what was mom like? What was dad like? What was his friends like? What was he listening to on the street? You know, what shows was he watching? And you kind of track their emotional and their life up to where you are at and how they've dealt with the different bridges, the different dilemmas, the different dramas.
And so you fill in this history so that, you know, if people talk in a scene about your mom, you have an immediate reaction because you know what happened to Mom and how you feel about her. And it's the same with an accent. It's amazing the little things it influenced. If I was to talk about my own accent. So my mother was from the north of England, so I have a little bit of the northern England in my R's.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: My dad's from south of England. And I grew up in quite a - what would I call it? I don't know. There was quite a strong southeast London accent, which I kind of try to hide because I wanted to sound more...
MOSLEY: Posh?
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: (Laughter) Yeah.
LAW: But it comes out.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: Like, if I go home or if I'm with certain friends.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: So all of that's in my voice.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: And so if you're playing a character, you want all of those details to be there.
MOSLEY: I'm so fascinated by this work because you've had to play quite a few characters with different accents. I can imagine it's not an easy thing to hold on to all of that while also realizing that you have to embody this...
LAW: When you practice, it's kind of muscles, honestly, in the end.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: I mean, personally, I think I'm always doing an accent, even when I'm playing someone who's English because they have a different background, right?
MOSLEY: Right, it depends on what part. Yeah.
LAW: So it just depends on what part of England. And there's the thinking it through, and then there's the technique of doing it. And the technique is actually quite like taking your mouth and throat to the gym. You're basically teaching it to do different things. So you have drills to do, funny, like, sentences, so that you're teaching your tongue to go in a certain way. And you listen a lot.
MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, I am talking to actor Jude Law. He stars in the new Netflix series "Black Rabbit," where he plays a nightclub owner entangled in crime, betrayal and family ties. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER'S "BLACK AND TAN FANTASY")
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. Today, I'm talking to Academy Award-nominated actor Jude Law. Over the years, he's become known for memorable roles in films like "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Cold Mountain," "Closer" and as Dr. Watson in the "Sherlock Holmes" films. Now he takes on a darker turn in the new series "Black Rabbit."
I am really fascinated by some of the things you've done to really embody a role. So I watched the other night "Firebrand."
LAW: Oh, yeah.
MOSLEY: It's, yeah, your 2023 film where you played King Henry VIII. I read that you hired a perfumer.
LAW: I work with her quite often, actually.
MOSLEY: Really? Yes.
LAW: Yeah. First of all, she's an absolute genius, Azzi. And she runs an amazing perfumery called The Perfumer's Story. She makes incredible scents. And, you know, scents is a really quick way to accumulate sort of feelings and emotions. You know, if you walk into your grandma's house, it smells a certain way, and you feel a certain way. If you go out and someone's been cutting the grass - (sniffing) right? - it evokes all sorts of memories. Or the smell of gasoline, you know?
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: I mean, things like that that are very pungent are very quick to make you feel and think, you know? And my job is an odd job. You know, whether you want to or not, you turn up. You put on someone else's clothes, and you have to embody someone pretty damn quick. And sometimes it's like, hey, it's 7. The sun's coming up. We've got to go do this.
MOSLEY: We got to get this done.
LAW: Get in it, right?
MOSLEY: But let's talk about what she did for you, OK? She...
LAW: So she built this. She made a perfume for me. And I'd read this piece about Henry. He basically had these ulcers on his leg that were rotting, and it was a miracle he lived the 10 years he did with them. But you could smell him, apparently, three rooms away. He'd stank, like, fetid.
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: And what I realized, I'm playing him at the very end of his life when eventually he died of these things from a fever. And I just thought it would be very helpful to everyone else and to me if I stank. So she made me this incredible, noxious odor that I kind of sprayed on myself.
MOSLEY: It was made, a concoction of pig sweat.
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: Fecal matter.
LAW: (Laughter) You're going, does this say this?
MOSLEY: To mimic the smell of decaying fish.
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: So it was really bad.
LAW: It was really, really, really, really rancid. Yeah. But it really helped. To me, it was very interesting playing someone who is incredibly powerful, all-dominant, expects everyone to bow to their every need and thought and want, and yet is sitting in a body that is immobile because of the weight he's put on and because of the wounds he has, kind of in his own rotting flesh, and having to kind of face himself. And he can't escape what he's done to himself and who he's become. You know, he's a mass murderer.
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: And deluded to the extreme of believing that he's second only to God. Well, he's about to face God. And it's like, OK, what's going on? What's going on in that man?
MOSLEY: You're pretty unrecognizable in that role. And I'm just wondering, there had to be some pretty interesting conversations around the rank smell on that set. It helped you. It also helped your colleagues, your costars.
LAW: Well, I mean, it wasn't like I, you know, wanted to shock them or warn them, you know, but we discussed it. And Alicia Vikander, who plays my wife, the queen, Queen Katherine Parr, was very game for it because she sort of loved this idea that she had to have this intimacy and this devotion amidst this sort of wall of stink, (laughter) you know? And the guys who play my Privy Council were old friends of mine from the theater. And again, it was this sort of - this conflict between observing their devotion and putting up with this appalling physical decay.
MOSLEY: Your parents were educators. What did they teach?
LAW: My father started out teaching English but then became, at quite a young age, a headmaster of a junior school. And my mum taught English. She taught junior school, too, and then she specialized in teaching English to foreign children who are coming in without the - without English - knowledge of the English language. And then she set up a theater company. She was always very keen in the - on theater. So she stopped teaching, went and did a course in theater directing and set up a theater company.
MOSLEY: And is that how you were introduced to...
LAW: I was already - they were also very much involved in local theaters, so local amateur theater, and that's really how I got involved. It was a place of great, yeah, community and fun. And I remember, you know, sitting in the back of the stalls of this little theater while Mum and Dad were putting on shows, doing my homework with my sister or sitting watching, you know, endless rehearsals. And it just became a place for me of - it was very familiar. It was safe. It was fun, you know, seeing adults playing and laughing, figuring stuff out, telling stories. How do we do this in this way so that the people understand? And that was - what an education. I mean, that's - I grew up watching that night after night.
MOSLEY: There's this video that's going around. It's of you...
LAW: Oh.
MOSLEY: ...At, like, 11 years old.
LAW: Is there (laughter)?
MOSLEY: And you're doing movie reviews.
LAW: Oh, no. Yeah, that was basically (laughter) a - (laughter) the TV - a TV company came to the school and were like, oh, we want a kid to review movies of different ages. And so they met a whole bunch of us, and they chose me. And so, yeah, I went on this morning show and did a couple of film reviews (laughter).
MOSLEY: Were you a movie buff?
LAW: I was a movie nerd. Totally.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: I was obsessed with films and from a very young age. Still I am.
MOSLEY: What kinds of movies?
LAW: Oh, everything.
MOSLEY: What lit your fire? What do you remember that really stuck in your mind?
LAW: I just loved the ritual and the immersion of going into a cinema. And so at a young age, you know, I was very lucky. Gosh, I grew up watching "Indiana Jones" and "E.T." and, I mean, all the great stuff. And then at a certain age realized there was all this other stuff, these black-and-white movies from the past. And I fell in love with old movies, too, whether Chaplin or, you know - and then my mum got me really into foreign movies. So she was taking me to see Truffaut and Godard. And my dad, meanwhile, would be taking me to see "Rocky" and, you know, "Rambo." I mean, I - it was a very broad (laughter) immersion.
MOSLEY: Yes. You were part of the National Youth Music Theatre...
LAW: Yes.
MOSLEY: ...Which you say - you described it as meeting your own people. Did you feel out of place before that in the context of school or outside of the theater world?
LAW: Yeah, I guess I did. I mentioned before the community of this local theater, and they were - you know, because there's a sort of trust, you know, in making those eccentric leaps of faith and putting on a play. School was a funny thing - funny time for me. I never really felt like I fitted in, particularly. I wasn't brilliantly academic. I wasn't an idiot, but I wasn't, like, super academic. I was a pretty good sportsman, but I wasn't, like, you know, big jock. I did fine. And looking back, I can see I was - you know, I was very pretty, and I was confident and I wanted to be an actor. And I probably wound a lot of people up. I wasn't - I wouldn't say pretentious, but I was also someone who was not going to bow down and be, like, humble and shy. And I found the need for people to kind of all follow the same path and be somewhat sheeplike incredibly frustrating. And so I usually kind of spoke my mind, which, again, wound a lot of people up, I imagine, looking back.
And when I auditioned and - I heard about the National Youth Music Theatre, and my parents were like, you know, you might want to do this. And I got in. Suddenly, I met all these other kids who liked theater, and they liked film and they wanted - or they were brilliant young musicians, or they wanted to work in storytelling. And it felt - yeah, it felt - they suddenly felt like my people.
MOSLEY: Our guest today is Jude Law. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tonya Mosley, and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMALIA SINGH'S "THE YOUNG POPE THEME")
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. And today, I am talking with Jude Law, who stars in the new Netflix series "Black Rabbit." It's the latest chapter in a career that's included performances in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Cold Mountain," "Closer" and as Dr. Watson in the "Sherlock Holmes" films. In "Black Rabbit," he plays a nightclub owner pulled into a world of crime and betrayal. The Netflix series starts streaming today. Now, when we left off, we were talking about how Jude trained at the National Youth Music Theatre in the U.K. as a teenager.
So fascinating that you were so deep in the theater then, and that troupe, I can imagine, really gave you an understanding of maybe what a career might be. What were your aspirations? Was it being a movie star? Was it in theater? Was it whatever the possibilities could be?
LAW: I think the latter. I was hoping, I guess, if I remember rightly, to just have a career in performing in whatever shape that looked like, you know, whether it was a life - I got a job from that. Someone saw me in one of the plays we did and got me an audition for a TV show. So I left home and I left school, and I went and did this TV show and became a professional actor. And that led to another job. But at that - what I knew at that young age was I really wanted to go into the theater. Like, I really knew that that's where I would learn my chops and really earn respect. So I remember there was a big process then of trying to get taken seriously in theater. I got into the Royal Shakespeare Company. I worked at the National Theatre, and that, again, was a place of real learning. And, you know, you can't hide in the theater on that scale.
I guess if I'd - you'd asked me back then, yeah, I'd have said, I'd love to be in the movies. But the movies felt a long way away. You know, I remember seeing movies with Gary Oldman in, who grew up near me, and Tim Roth, who grew up near me, or Daniel Day-Lewis, who didn't grow up near me. But, you know, these were London guys who - I was like, oh, that's a career I would love to emulate. But it felt so distant. It felt like other. Theater was more immediate, and I was just lucky that one then led to the other.
MOSLEY: From the very start, you caught Hollywood's attention. "Gattaca" is one that I absolutely love and is a cult classic. At the time, it had done fairly well. But "The Talented Mr. Ripley," I think, is really when you became a name where folks could identify you. Did it take you, then, by surprise just what they were paying attention to? Because it sounds like you wanted to have this serious career...
LAW: Still do.
MOSLEY: ...Which you have done. But when you first arrived, it was really all about your looks. Yeah. Did that catch you by surprise?
LAW: Not really. I actually turned down the role of - in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" because my concern was he was the good-looking guy, and I was worried that that would limit my career, I suppose. I wanted to be seen as something more than that. And I'm very lucky I didn't turn that role down because it changed my career, and I got to work with all these wonderful people, opened a lot of doors, and it was a great experience. But it did - one of the doors it opened was this attention, yes, to what I looked like. And I still find that shallow and frustrating, if I'm honest.
And it's interesting - isn't it? - that we're in a time now where, you know, for women, for many years that was something that was always discussed. And I kind of - I - but fortunately, we're turning a corner now where if - you know, if the same conversation were to be applied to a woman, they'd quite rightly be able to say, you know, that's not cool. Let's not go there. And it's always been, yeah, a bit frustrating, but it's a very odd subject to talk about because in talking about it also sort of feels like I'm affirming the, you know (laughter)...
MOSLEY: That you're saying, yeah, I'm a good-looking guy.
LAW: ...That I'm really good-looking.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: But, yeah, it was a kind of - it felt always like a bit of a limitation, weirdly.
MOSLEY: Did you try to do things to combat that in the choices that...
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...You made?
LAW: For a certain amount...
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: ...Of time, yeah. There were certain roles definitely at key moments, which I chose because I just thought, oh, well, this'll take it away from being that stereotype. I like to think now that I've been doing it long enough and, I hope, provided enough evidence and variety that it's not or no longer all people see. But just the other day, I was at the Toronto Film Festival, and in at least two or three of the interviews, that's all they wanted to talk about - my looks. And I kind of looked at them and thought, you know, I'm a 52-year-old guy. I've got a 30-year career, and that's all you're talking about.
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: You know, it was very odd...
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: ...And, again, limiting. It just feel - but, hey, it's also - it's not like they're insulting me. My God.
MOSLEY: Right, right. There are worse things to have to keep talking about.
LAW: Yeah. Yeah. But it is something that fades. So it can't be something you hang your entire life on. It changes, you know?
MOSLEY: Well, I'm glad to hear that you actually took on the role as Dickie in "The Talented Mr. Ripley." What a star-studded cast. At the time, you all were just young actors. Matt Damon, I think, was the most well-known person at that time. We're talking 1999. What do you remember most about that experience?
LAW: There was a palpable sense of excitement and energy that, you know, we were doing something good because Anthony Minghella, who's - was just the most beautiful spirit and ran a very happy team.
MOSLEY: He was the director of the - yeah.
LAW: He was the director, writer-director. He had just won a whole bunch of Oscars for his film "The English Patient." And, yeah, everyone on the set had - you know, there was a buzz around them. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett...
TONYA MOSLEY AND JUDE LAW: Gwyneth Paltrow.
LAW: ...Jack Davenport and, as you mentioned, Matt in the lead role. So my memory is feeling the pressure to step up and deliver. It was also one of play and fun. It was undeniably glamorous and romantic to be all over Italy and shooting this thing on yachts and in train stations in - on the Spanish Steps in Rome and on these little islands off the Amalfi Coast. I mean, idyllic and wonderful and all young enough - or certainly I felt young enough - to feel also invincible and incredibly bold and brave and...
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: ...Confident. Yeah.
MOSLEY: Were there any choices that you made in embodying Dickie that you kind of decided, I wanted to complicate this person, I wanted to make this person a little bit rougher or more than what maybe even is on the page?
LAW: Well, yeah, absolutely. I don't remember all the literature I read, but there's an awful lot of detail in the novel by Patricia Highsmith. And there's a sort of thread of a backstory that you get a sense of, in the film anyway, where he has this violent temper. He has this sort of frustration, Dickie. And you see it a little bit. And they talk about him hurting a boy at school. So you know that there's this darkened part. It's this sense of, you know, the ultimate kind of spoiled rich kid, really, who gets away with everything.
There's also a sort of incredible arrogance to that kind of a guy, I thought, that I was nervous about creating because that's not me. It's that kind of confidence of just absolutely owning the room, especially when that room has Philip Seymour Hoffman, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett in it. And it took a lot of getting - really, really, really building up to it. And Anthony was amazing at that, letting me, because I was probably the least known. I'd done the least work. I did a couple of, like, little independent movies and some theater.
MOSLEY: And you were aware of all of them and their work?
LAW: Oh, yeah. Cate, I believe, had just played Elizabeth. Gwyneth was about to win an Oscar for "Shakespeare In Love." Philip was just - everyone knew Philip's work because he was a genius. And I think I'd seen him in some of PT Anderson's early films, and I knew his work in theater. Matt was already a star. But I remember Anthony really talking me through, you know, the need to sort of assume this confidence. And he did it through very wonderful ways, flattery and just encouragement.
MOSLEY: Like what? Because he had to pump you up to be confident.
LAW: I think so. But...
MOSLEY: And to have this hubris, yeah.
LAW: Yes. But it wasn't a case of, like, the coach in the corner.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: Talking the boxer into the ring. It was done over a period of time. You know, he gave me a sense of ownership and belief.
MOSLEY: Is there anything that he taught you that you still use today?
LAW: He talked a lot, but not so much on that film because it wasn't really my place. But when we made "Cold Mountain," he talked a lot about being a host. That when you're the lead in a film, you know, a big film is a moving, amorphous beast. And you get different people coming in. Sometimes it's their only day on set. But it's really important they deliver and that they feel confident and they understand the mood of the set. And it's like, as he put it, it's a wedding. And you're the groom or you're the bride. You got to go introduce yourself.
MOSLEY: (Laughter) Yeah.
LAW: You got to make sure they're comfortable.
MOSLEY: Yes.
LAW: And they get the tone of the room, and they get the tone of this. You know, and it's their turn. When the camera is on them, it's all about them. And I remember feeling he was absolutely right. And it's important. I think that percolates down on a set so that people do their best work, so that people are happy. And, you know, it's a collaborative art form throughout. Crew, cast, everyone's got to be on their game.
MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, my guest is Jude Law. He stars in the new Netflix series "Black Rabbit" and is known for acclaimed roles in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Cold Mountain" and the "Sherlock Holmes" films. We'll be right back after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWREEOH SONG, "CAN'T BRING ME DOWN")
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. Today we're talking to Jude Law about his latest role in the Netflix series "Black Rabbit" and about the range of characters he's brought to life throughout his career.
You have seven children? Yeah. Ranges from what age to what age?
LAW: Twenty-eight to 3.
(LAUGHTER)
LAW: So it's a lifetime (laughter).
MOSLEY: Yeah. I just sent my daughter off to college.
LAW: Aw.
MOSLEY: And I was thinking, actually, as I was doing it, now, if I could do that all over again, now I think I got some things, you know, I know.
LAW: You would?
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: Would you do it all over?
MOSLEY: I would. Or maybe I'm just in the feels right now, you know?
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: But I'm just wondering, from you, like, raising kids, do you just - when you have that between 28 and 3, does it feel like, OK, I'm now getting better and better practice at this? Or does it feel brand-new with every one?
LAW: Oh, brand-new with every one. But the experience certainly calms you. I'm trying to think of a good sort of metaphor for it. You know, you've been on the road before, but the weather is always different, (laughter) right? And maybe the vehicle is different, too.
MOSLEY: And maybe - right? - the road is different. Right.
LAW: Yeah, it's raining, or suddenly it's icy, or it's a beautiful day.
MOSLEY: This road has a lot of bumps, yeah.
LAW: Yeah.
MOSLEY: Potholes.
LAW: Exactly. That's funny. A lot of potholes in this road. Yeah, honestly, it's the single thing, as it should be, in my life that keeps me totally alert and real because every day is a new day for them to discover themselves. And you're there guiding that or just letting them know that you're there for them. And they approach it differently. And so you're still kind of figuring out how are they seeing this and how can I help or support or guide? And is that standing back, or is that getting there and getting involved? It's a living, breathing thing. And it's true what people say that, you know, it never ends. It's not like, oh, OK, they've left home and they're entering adulthood, because then those phone calls are, you know, a little more weighty and a little more serious if they need your help
MOSLEY: Yeah
LAW: Or guidance. But the physicality and the involvement of being a daddy to little ones is, you know, immediate and demanding. And I would certainly also say that, you know, having been a dad when I was in my mid-20s, I mean, the energy I had back then and the ability to bounce back. I was the first one up. Now, it's like, Dad, get up (laughter). I'm - it takes its toll.
MOSLEY: Yeah.
LAW: It's hard work.
MOSLEY: How has fatherhood, if at all, shaped the roles that you choose?
LAW: If it's affected them. It's sometimes taking jobs because I need to pay the mortgage (laughter).
MOSLEY: That's real (ph).
LAW: Right? And I think, you know, getting involved in shows like the Fantastic Beasts and Marvel and - it was probably because I thought my kids would get a kick out of this. But me too (laughter).
MOSLEY: Yeah. Right, right.
LAW: I was as kind of curious to see into those huge worlds...
MOSLEY: Right.
LAW: ...As they were. But honestly, the biggest way they've guided me, looking back now, is that they really help just create normality in my life. And I love the tonic of going home and just being Dad and not anything else, you know, sort of hanging up whatever coat it is you're wearing or the demands of all of that and the output. Because there's a lot of - acting, to my mind, is a sort of offering, right? But it means you're putting out a lot. And so being able to go home and just sort of nestling into a domestic environment where you can just be a father is - or a parent is a wonderful relief.
MOSLEY: Yeah. Jude Law, thank you so much.
LAW: My pleasure.
MOSLEY: Jude Law stars in the new Netflix series "Black Rabbit."
Coming up, our rock critic Ken Tucker reviews three new albums to listen to this fall. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND'S "RIDE INTO THE SUN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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