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Episode: "Jude Law"

Author: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Duration: 01:05:05

Episode Shownotes

Hey Jude… Law. Make room for a new best friend this week, as we have a run in with the Law. Aliens, storytelling, separating the jaw, and a 3 job off-ramp. There’s no brain in the full-body scan… it’s an all-new SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to

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Summary

In this episode of 'SmartLess', hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett engage in a humorous and insightful conversation with surprise guest Jude Law. Topics range from health check-ups and personal anecdotes in the film industry to Jude Law's upcoming film 'The Order', addressing contemporary issues. The discussion emphasizes the nostalgia for traditional storytelling in cinema and music, contrasting it with modern adaptations. Law reflects on his upbringing in theater, his career beginnings, and the unpredictability of film success, highlighting the joys of collaboration and storytelling in filmmaking.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page ("Jude Law") to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:03 Speaker_06
Hey, good morning, everybody. How's everybody doing?

00:00:06 Speaker_07
Real good. What a nice sleep. What a, yeah. Will, you were snoring a little bit last night. I had to turn you over a couple of times.

00:00:12 Speaker_06
I know. Yes, and I had no covers on me. That was weird. Yeah.

00:00:15 Speaker_07
No, you didn't. Yeah. But I love that extra super-sized Charlene's Chocolate Factory bed we got, huh? Hey, be honest.

00:00:22 Speaker_05
What was the camera for? Because I noticed a camera this morning when I woke up. That was my bad. That was my bad. I forgot to take it down. Okay.

00:00:28 Speaker_07
Anyway, let's do a podcast. Welcome to Smart List. Yeah. How's everybody doing? I'm great. I haven't even had a chance to open up my breakfast bar. A little ASMR. Yeah.

00:00:58 Speaker_07
This is Papa Steve's No Junk Raw Protein Bars, which I'm real keen on, and my address you can find in the chat. Jesus. Okay. Have you guys had your breakfast yet? I have.

00:01:10 Speaker_05
I have not. What'd you have, Willie? I had one cup of oatmeal made with water and some berries.

00:01:19 Speaker_07
Do they let you out for an hour of exercise each day?

00:01:21 Speaker_05
Yeah, I had a few berries with it and then a drizzle of maple syrup, pure maple syrup for taste. I'd love to drizzle ever again. And then I had five scrambled eggs. Jesus, my chest hurts. Five eggs? Your chest shouldn't hurt. It's not bad for your chest.

00:01:37 Speaker_07
You know, I think there was one report that said that eggs are not cholesterol problems anymore, and I love that report as much as you do, but I'd love to hear a second.

00:01:46 Speaker_05
Well, my doctor told me that, so... Who's the guy you found online? Put it this way, what's your cholesterol and what's mine? And you're the one who, like, eats all this shit, and what's yours and what's mine? My cholesterol is horrendous, yeah.

00:01:57 Speaker_05
Mine is too. Because it's in my family. Yeah. Mine's 90.

00:02:02 Speaker_07
I will tell you, I just had one of those full body scans.

00:02:04 Speaker_05
Yeah. And, um... No brain? Yeah. And completely empty? Sir, can we talk to you for a second? Yeah.

00:02:13 Speaker_07
It's just one microchip up there.

00:02:17 Speaker_05
They said there's no heart, they just found a box with a picture of a heart in it.

00:02:24 Speaker_07
So, did you get the results back? Yes, thank you. The results were fine. It felt good. Everything is fantastic and, yeah, I'm very pleased. Because, you know, you never know with those things.

00:02:35 Speaker_07
You could get, okay, so your appointment to review your scan results or is it tomorrow at 3 o'clock? Okay, so tomorrow at 3 o'clock, I'm going to find out if I've got something I've got to worry about the rest of my life.

00:02:44 Speaker_05
And you walk in and they got six doctors in there.

00:02:46 Speaker_07
They got six guys in there like... They'd actually like to do this in person.

00:02:49 Speaker_05
The team needs to speak to you. Yeah. Hey, Jason, can you...

00:02:56 Speaker_07
And do you have a wife, girlfriend, best friend, something that can maybe drive you?

00:03:00 Speaker_05
Are you religious at all?

00:03:01 Speaker_07
Because we got a guy here on standby. No, I was, it was, it's a real, um, we were talking about it, you and me, Will, the other day, and you were like, well, I don't know. I mean, do you want to know?

00:03:10 Speaker_07
Do you want, I was like, yeah, I do if it's good news. And thank God it was, it was good, so.

00:03:16 Speaker_05
That's good. Uh, did you get the, Sean, did you get the shingles vaccine? I did. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Did you, Willie? Uh, I have not.

00:03:24 Speaker_07
You have to, you must. Now, what is it, if you've had chicken pox, you're susceptible to shingles or vice versa? It's already living inside you if you had chicken pox, the shingles.

00:03:34 Speaker_07
So, if you haven't had chicken pox, you're good, you don't need the shingles vaccine?

00:03:38 Speaker_06
I think, I don't know, don't get medical advice from this show. Yeah, exactly. Change the channel, everybody.

00:03:44 Speaker_05
How often would you say, in any given week, do you have a conversation at least with the doctor? Oh God, on a weekly basis for sure. So it's at least once a week. At least once a week you're interfacing with a doctor via text or call or in person.

00:03:59 Speaker_07
But why? Because you're concerned or you just want to stay ahead of things?

00:04:02 Speaker_06
I want to be one of those people that catch something before it happens.

00:04:06 Speaker_07
Right, so you just workshop things that could go wrong with you and what to do to be ready.

00:04:10 Speaker_06
That's right. You ever thought about just living life and enjoying it? I'll take photos of shit and text them and all that stuff.

00:04:17 Speaker_07
You could zip into a bubble maybe, you know, and just kind of have Scotty roll you around.

00:04:23 Speaker_06
From room to room. Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm not above it. I'll do that. You know what, though? We were talking about anesthesia, Jason, me and you, I think, at dinner last week. God, I could go for some propofol right now. Wouldn't it be great?

00:04:36 Speaker_06
And we were talking about how do you... Isn't it fascinating? How did somebody discover... Yeah, they could just switch you off. ...anesthesia? Like, who do you test that on?

00:04:44 Speaker_05
Right, we're gonna bring you as close to death as possible.

00:04:47 Speaker_07
Getting that just right was probably challenging. That's too much, we lost them. Or too little, you can see them screaming as they amputate the wrist.

00:04:58 Speaker_05
Yeah, it's unbelievable. Well, I tell you when you don't want some purple falls when our guest is performing. Great transition. You want to be wide awake for this person's work. And I tell you, millions of people have been wide awake watching this guy.

00:05:14 Speaker_05
He's been, I'm going to say this, he's been dazzling people for a long time. David Copperfield. Well, he is... He is... David Blaine. I will just say, Jason, you might want to be careful because this person knows a lot of your secrets. Oh, uh-oh. Okay?

00:05:35 Speaker_05
This person knows... Papa? This person knows a lot of the stuff that you've... Pa-pa-pa-papa? Been up to, especially recently, because this person is somebody who has been in and out of your world, I'll just say this.

00:05:51 Speaker_05
This is, again, I always feel like with my guests it's hard to start, you know, naming their credits because you're just gonna, you're immediately gonna go, oh yeah, blah, blah, blah. Why is this person my guest then? You say I know this person. You do.

00:06:05 Speaker_05
And they could be your guest because I wanted to kind of surprise you.

00:06:08 Speaker_05
Because this is somebody who has... This is somebody who's been doing... This is somebody who's been doing the kinds of films that we... Jay, this is the kind of thing for you that fits in, like, they're doing the kind of thing that the tastemakers like and, like, all those kind of words that you like.

00:06:26 Speaker_05
So much disdain he has for that. I know. And, you know, because there are films in there, this is somebody who's been nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTAs, Olivier Awards. He's done television. He's played the Pope.

00:06:43 Speaker_05
He's been in Sherlock Holmes. He's been in Talented Mystery. And he's Jason's co-star and collaborator on Black Rabbit.

00:07:00 Speaker_00
It's Jude Lyman! Good morning, my friend. Hi, Jude. Good morning.

00:07:05 Speaker_05
And he should be your guest, but I wanted him because I wanted to surprise you, JB, with your guy.

00:07:12 Speaker_07
Buddy, God damn it, this is great. Guys, get ready to just fall in love and clear out, make room for a new best friend. There's really, Jude, first of all, welcome. There's just nobody I'm more excited about.

00:07:28 Speaker_07
as a new person in my life, like for the last 10 years, Jude Law.

00:07:34 Speaker_05
Jude, he has been singing your praises since you guys started working together. And I'm not... Honestly, I'm not making it up. He cannot speak more highly about... And he has generally disdained for people.

00:07:50 Speaker_00
As you know.

00:07:52 Speaker_07
I like five people in the world and there's three on the screen right now.

00:07:57 Speaker_00
I'm going, we finished just a couple of weeks ago and I'm genuinely going through withdrawals. It's been, I mean it was a long shoot so you know when it starts to become part of your daily routine and

00:08:09 Speaker_00
dare I say, you not take it for granted, but you're just, you know, you've been doing it for a few months and it's just, it's, it's what you do every day. And man, I'm finding it hard. It's been a bit bumpy coming out. How about you?

00:08:20 Speaker_07
Yeah. It's like, it's like, yeah, on that, on that project, it was like, uh, waking up in your house each day and just like hanging out with your family and it's just so easy. And then you're gone from your family and you start to miss them.

00:08:33 Speaker_00
Yeah, it's a very odd part of what we do, right? Yeah. I was trying to explain this to someone. It's like, most people have their first day on a job, like, you know, in their 20s or 30s. And maybe they change their job once, like in their 40s.

00:08:50 Speaker_00
We change jobs. Three times a year sometimes. Like a whole new group of people. Hi. Hello. I'm Jude. Nice to meet you.

00:08:58 Speaker_05
Well, what's so unusual is that Jason has allowed himself to get attached to you, because I have heard him describe, and this is true, and I really, this is true.

00:09:08 Speaker_05
He described recently to somebody, and this really, again, is going to give you a lot of info about who JB,

00:09:13 Speaker_05
He talks about how when he starts a job with people, he tells himself not to get too attached because he knows he's not going to see them again. And so he builds in a distance with people so he won't get hurt. Am I right, JB?

00:09:28 Speaker_07
Ish. It's not as much of a defense mechanism as just like a practicality. It's like, well, we're going to never see each other. other again, but there's a necessary bonding that needs to happen to really make the work enjoyable and effective.

00:09:43 Speaker_07
So yeah, it's an odd thing.

00:09:45 Speaker_00
I've actually given young actors that advice sometimes because I remember when I was in my early 20s starting out, You say, don't fall in love with me.

00:09:53 Speaker_00
You kind of, no, no, you know, you kind of, you kind of walk away from the film thinking, I just made 50 best friends and I'm going to, we're going to see each other every week.

00:10:02 Speaker_00
There are, and then nothing happens and you feel slightly like heartbroken. So you got to, you know, I'm like, don't, you're not, they're not going to be your best friends. You're going to work together. It's going to be great.

00:10:12 Speaker_07
The good news in this business is you actually do have a realistic chance of seeing those people again, though, on another project. If you're as old as we are.

00:10:21 Speaker_07
Now, before we get going, I've seen Jude's film that is coming out, depending on when this airs. It's called The Order. And I've seen it twice in the last three days because they very nicely asked me to introduce it at some screening the other day.

00:10:41 Speaker_07
This movie, Jude's the lead in it. It's also with Nicholas Holt and Jurnee Smollett, and it's directed by Justin Kurzel.

00:10:49 Speaker_07
Guys, if you like a bag of money and a gun, and something that is shot like one of those Sidney Lumet films, it's just, this movie is so goddamn good. He plays an FBI agent that is after a white supremacist gang up in the Pacific Northwest.

00:11:06 Speaker_07
It's a true story, happens back in like the late 70s, early 80s, I think, Jude. It's just badass. Bank robberies and it's just... Go see it. It's called The Order. It's fucking great.

00:11:20 Speaker_05
I can't wait to see that. I haven't seen the trailer. I saw the one sheet. It looks really... Just the poster alone looked really cool. And, you know, and I think that you're like holding a gun in it or something. I see it a hundred more times.

00:11:33 Speaker_05
Talk a little bit, well, just if you can, just because we're on this, to talk a little bit about The Order and how it kind of came into your world and what it was about it that you're like, oh yeah, this is something I've got to do.

00:11:42 Speaker_05
Because I don't necessarily associate you with as a sort of like a gun wrangling, you know what I mean?

00:11:48 Speaker_00
I hadn't played a part like it. And it came my way through my production company. And, you know, it was just one of those, it was so full of potential. It had this incredible true story that I hadn't heard of an awful lot of people hadn't heard of.

00:12:03 Speaker_00
It had all this relevance to today, and the sort of divisive society that we're living in that we're seeing around the world. And then You know, it's also wrapped up in a brilliant cat-and-mouse thriller kind of genre film.

00:12:19 Speaker_00
And like Jason said, it's reminded me of those movies, those kind of crowd-pleasers that I used to go see when I was a kid with the great filmmakers of Lumet and Friedkin. And it's funny, isn't it?

00:12:32 Speaker_00
It's the same with other genres, I suppose, but those kind of movies were at once with Hackman and Newman and people like that in them. So, so popular and suddenly they, I don't know, they kind of lost their edge maybe, but anyway.

00:12:44 Speaker_07
I have no idea why, right? I mean, like French Connection, like they don't make those movies anymore. And those used to be like the blockbusters, Wide or Dog Day Afternoon. What happened?

00:12:54 Speaker_05
Well, I think, first of all, I think we do know, and they tried, even into the 90s, I was thinking about Ronan, you know, that great De Niro, Frankenheimer movie, amazing.

00:13:04 Speaker_05
Again, trying to extend that idea, even out of sight with Clooney and those guys in Soderbergh.

00:13:10 Speaker_07
Or Out of the Furnace, the Christian Bale movie.

00:13:12 Speaker_05
Yeah, like all those movies tried, but I think that what happened was, and I think I mentioned this before, we've spent the last at least decade kind of under the tyranny of IP. Yeah, for sure.

00:13:23 Speaker_05
These films that were made, that were made, all the studios owned all this IP, and they're like, how can we squeeze as much as we can out of this IP?

00:13:33 Speaker_05
Whether it's this, for people like Sean and Scott, he ruined the movie business, because that's what they wanted. I think they're trying to hedge their bet. I hope they save the planet Lindalore because that's where they... Be careful.

00:13:47 Speaker_05
Jude's got a Star Wars thing coming up. It's called Skeleton Crew. I can't wait. Excluding Jude. I didn't talk about Star Wars. Not Jude, Star Wars. Anyway, I think that that is why. But I think you're right. There's an appetite for this kind of thing.

00:14:03 Speaker_07
Well, they're assuming they're gonna get a built-in audience with this existing IP.

00:14:06 Speaker_07
And so these original things are sort of put on the back burner, but my God, just a pure satisfying experience of going to see, you know, a caper, you know, or a thriller or something with just a true beginning, middle and end where you get invested with these characters and there's a sticky plot.

00:14:23 Speaker_07
And I'm like, why do I need some dude flying around on top of it all?

00:14:27 Speaker_00
But it goes full circle, I'm sure, right? I mean, people come, they'll always come back to it. It's like vinyl, right? Everyone comes back to vinyl.

00:14:34 Speaker_07
You hope, you hope. Hopefully this one will start. You know, guess what? It's the same thing with music.

00:14:40 Speaker_07
My kids listen to all this music that's very good, but it all comes out of electronic interface, as opposed to, like, plugging in an instrument and, like, you hear a snare drum or you hear a guitar.

00:14:54 Speaker_07
I mean, I don't mean to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but I miss the sound of instruments and music. Hopefully that comes back as well.

00:14:59 Speaker_05
It'll come back. It'll come back. I think it does come back. I mean, you're talking a lot about, I suppose, mainstream pop music. There is a lot, there is a huge appetite for, and there's a very thriving indie music, certainly.

00:15:14 Speaker_05
I'm like such an old school 90s dinosaur indie fan. But that has kind of come back. There's a lot of guitar-driven music out there that's excellent. A lot of great American bands and, you know... So, Jude, how are you today? Hey, F you, Sean.

00:15:32 Speaker_02
Sean, go fuck yourself.

00:15:33 Speaker_05
Hey, do you guys want to hear my impression of Sean and Scotty going to the movies again? Yeah, please. I hope that they find... I hope he knows that his dad actually came from Scotlandscore.

00:15:43 Speaker_05
Do you know that his dad, his dad was in the other, and his, he came from Scandinavia too.

00:15:50 Speaker_06
By the way, we just watched Alien Romulus again. Again. That mythology is so great.

00:15:56 Speaker_00
Where does that sit in the order of the alien?

00:16:01 Speaker_06
It comes before the original in the 70s. Oh. Yeah. Oh, right after. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

00:16:07 Speaker_00
Have you watched the original again recently? Yes, it's incredible. And like the design, the design for it, all those, who was it who was watching it recently? And they said, they paused it and zoomed in on a little area in behind, I think, Ian Holm.

00:16:23 Speaker_00
And it was basically an old speaker turned inside out or upside down and sprayed white or something.

00:16:30 Speaker_06
It's really cool. And in Romulus, the sets they made look like the 80s. I misspoke, it comes after the original, sorry, in between the original.

00:16:40 Speaker_00
In that early Alien. Are you a fan? I love Alien, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's so good. Where are you right now? Are you in a hotel?

00:16:47 Speaker_06
Are you home?

00:16:48 Speaker_00
I'm in a hotel in Beverly Hills. I'm in Los Angeles for a while, promoting and, you know.

00:16:57 Speaker_07
Yeah, he is humping. This guy's got stamina like you cannot believe. He's not going to stop until December.

00:17:02 Speaker_05
I've heard, again, I don't want to get too much, because we do love the Black Rabbit. We want to talk about it. We're all so excited for Black Rabbit. It's time to talk about that. That's a year from now.

00:17:11 Speaker_05
I will say, again, this is the highest compliment from JB. He talked about your stamina and your ability to show up on set every day and deliver in every way. I've never seen him so impressed. I've never seen him so impressed, Jude.

00:17:27 Speaker_05
Honestly, again, I'm going out of my way here, but it's so true.

00:17:31 Speaker_07
I need your notes on episode three and four.

00:17:34 Speaker_05
Turn those around to me, Jude. Let's not turn this into a work session, okay?

00:17:39 Speaker_00
Let's just house shit out now.

00:17:40 Speaker_05
Okay, well, Jude, let's talk early days as you started as a performer.

00:17:45 Speaker_05
So, we know where you've been and where you are now, but let's flash back to when you were a kid, and the first time you said, mom, dad, I wanna perform, or somebody said, Jude, you need to perform. What was the thing? Were you attracted to it?

00:18:01 Speaker_05
Did somebody notice it in you? What was the thing?

00:18:05 Speaker_00
It just sort of occurred because my parents were teachers. This is in the 70s in Southeast London. And they, but they had a passion for theatre. So they were members of a local theatre company and they would put on plays.

00:18:21 Speaker_00
And I grew up in a house where I remember there were always the kitchen was full of people rehearsing, or I'd come down and half our furniture would be gone because they'd be using it on a set in the play that they were putting on.

00:18:36 Speaker_00
So it was just a big, and I just remember loving. watching adults rehearse and goof about. It looked like it was a dialogue. It was a language that made sense to me. And I felt very comfortable in it.

00:18:50 Speaker_00
So really, honestly, it was like a kind of, what's the right word? Segway as opposed to a kind of decision. I got involved the older I got and did plays and I joined a company as a kid. Brothers and sisters?

00:19:03 Speaker_00
I had a big sister who she performed too, but she's a painter.

00:19:08 Speaker_06
I thought that was the name of the theater company. I thought Jason was like Brothers and Sisters Theater Company.

00:19:12 Speaker_00
It'd be a good one. Yeah, it is a good name. And she's a painter, yeah? She's a painter, yeah. So the decision honestly was just... I mean, there was a moment when I got offered a job. in a TV show.

00:19:26 Speaker_00
I was about 17 and had to make the decision of leaving school, moving out. And they just sort of knew that was going to happen. And they made me promise if it didn't work out, I'd go back to school. And I was like, of course.

00:19:40 Speaker_00
But they were incredibly supportive.

00:19:42 Speaker_07
So wait, did you not finish high school like me?

00:19:44 Speaker_00
No, didn't finish. Nice. Wow.

00:19:46 Speaker_05
No, I didn't finish. This is great. What I'm realizing also about your friendship with JB is that he hasn't asked you any questions about your life in all the time that you've known him.

00:19:55 Speaker_07
No, no, it's fine. Dude, what's your last name?

00:19:58 Speaker_05
He's like, do you have a sister? Did you finish high school? How the fuck would you not know that already?

00:20:01 Speaker_07
Well, I'm not in there on the guy's jock all day on the fucking set.

00:20:04 Speaker_05
You know, we got work to do. It's called just human irration. It's just called being interested in somebody else other than yourself. No, I gotta scroll through my phone in between takes.

00:20:10 Speaker_00
Jason and I stayed in character. The whole time. Oh my God. I will be honest, it was kind of weird when he shaved the beard because he'd been my big brother with the beard. Like, you know, we've been hugging and fighting and it's been full on.

00:20:25 Speaker_00
And then suddenly he appeared and he was Jason Bateman. Yeah, Jason Bateman. Yeah, exactly.

00:20:31 Speaker_05
You guys did so much storytelling together. Oh God, Will.

00:20:37 Speaker_01
And we will be right back. And now back to the show.

00:20:45 Speaker_05
So, Jude, but that decision to go and do, to go do a television program or stay in school, when I hear you say it and I think about wanting to be a performer and being 17, like, that's a kind of an easy decision. Like, hey, do you want to go do it?

00:21:00 Speaker_05
Yeah. Or do you want to stay in school? I really love school. Exactly.

00:21:05 Speaker_07
Yeah, when did you know that you were safe, that it was actually going to be something that could provide an income for you?

00:21:12 Speaker_00
Yeah. Um... Honestly, not until I was in my early 20s and I'd done a movie or two and really, yeah.

00:21:20 Speaker_07
What was your first one? What was your first film?

00:21:22 Speaker_00
So my first film was a movie called Shopping and it was about car thieves and that was in the early 90s.

00:21:29 Speaker_00
And then I did a film, another English film, but a period film called Wild about Oscar Wilde and Stephen Fry played Oscar Wilde and I played his boyfriend, Bosey Douglas, who was a nasty piece of work. And around then,

00:21:44 Speaker_00
I'd done a lot of theater in the film, yeah, I guess around then. I sort of thought, oh, this is a job.

00:21:49 Speaker_07
When was the movie, you were still in England at that point.

00:21:52 Speaker_05
Well, Wild, you got, that was the first, like, you got a little, you got some recognition for that performance in Wild. That kind of like, put you up a notch.

00:22:01 Speaker_00
Yeah, I got those, you know, newcomer awards. Right. And, you know, welcome to the gang awards kind of thing.

00:22:10 Speaker_05
Yeah. Well, that's kind of good though. I mean, that's kind of when you're a young actor, I mean, it's meaningful, yeah?

00:22:17 Speaker_00
Totally. But you know how it is. There's still that funny feeling of, God, I just want to get another job. You still think the unpredictable nature of what we do, the waiting is still quite alarming. And you haven't got enough money in the bank.

00:22:32 Speaker_00
You're thinking, okay, God, this is unpredictable.

00:22:34 Speaker_07
Even today, all four of us are not out of the woods. We never will be. The only thing that I think we have going for us is that

00:22:42 Speaker_07
if our careers were to end soon, there would be sort of a downhill trajectory of maybe three or four jobs before you're done. Like that's the only sort of pad we have built in there.

00:22:53 Speaker_07
Whereas like back when Jude was starting, maybe, you know, this could be your last job.

00:22:57 Speaker_07
I think the four of us are at a point now, you know, all of our, you know, we're so lucky to have had our sort of success, but it's still only as built in like a three job off-ramp.

00:23:10 Speaker_05
Yeah, not if I release Sean's texts. I think it's gonna be... It's gonna be immediate. But, um... Jude, I will... So, Jude, then... Because I'm kind of building towards this, which is the film, I think, that I first...

00:23:25 Speaker_05
that I, as a consumer and a film goer, and as a young actor, you know, looking, aspiring to do stuff, noticed you in a film that I, to this day, adore, and talking about science fiction, a really pure, I think one of the great science fiction films, Gattaca.

00:23:44 Speaker_05
You and Ethan. That performance, that film.

00:23:48 Speaker_07
And Andrew Nichol.

00:23:49 Speaker_05
What an incredible, Andrew Nichol, amazing filmmaker. But that film was really remarkable. Talk a little bit about that, would you?

00:23:58 Speaker_00
Well, it was the first film that brought me to Hollywood, and... It was the first time and you know, it was one of those rare occasions where you read a script and you just can't believe it's as good as it is. And that they want you to be in it.

00:24:11 Speaker_00
That was pretty extraordinary. You know, I was thinking a lot about that recently. And Ethan was such an incredible teacher, really. To meet and work with Ethan at that early really impactful.

00:24:28 Speaker_00
He was, he's such a gent, and he takes it so seriously, but with such a humor and a creative sort of approach. And I remember watching him, and we had all our stuff together, that was, that was really influential.

00:24:42 Speaker_00
But moving here, moving to the States, and making a film. And I remember going and rehearsing on the Sony lot and Yeah, it was just, it was a dream. It was kind of fantastic, fantastical.

00:24:56 Speaker_07
Where did you move to? Where was your first spot? Oh, what was it called? I stayed... Were you down there in Culver City near the lot?

00:25:02 Speaker_00
No, I was in West Hollywood. I was in one of those funny little hotels where you've got a kitchen in the corner, something sweet, Summerfield Sweet, something like that.

00:25:11 Speaker_07
Yeah, yeah.

00:25:13 Speaker_00
Where you have a bed and everything's in one room.

00:25:15 Speaker_07
It wasn't as glamorous as you thought the Hollywood sort of journey would be? Honestly, I was just happy someone else was picking up

00:25:22 Speaker_05
At that point, you were just happy it wasn't raining. I think, you know, you talk about Ethan, first of all, I do want to say this, and we've had him on the show, we're such fans, I think he is such an unheralded artist.

00:25:37 Speaker_05
And I don't usually use that word as much, because sometimes it makes me cringe, but he is such an artist, that guy, and he is... And started, you know, young, as we know. He was a child actor. We're talking about Ethan Hawke.

00:25:51 Speaker_05
Ethan Hawke, yeah, sorry, Tracy. We're talking about Ethan Hawke. He's one of those guys, he could have... If he had had more artistry, Jason could have been him. But he's one of those... And I say that, Jason, and I love what you do.

00:26:03 Speaker_05
It feels like a compliment. I just gotta kind of look into it a little bit. No, but... He's kind of like... I really do... I love... A, all his performances are so good and so raw and amazing. And I love his approach and hearing him talk about art.

00:26:22 Speaker_05
So when you told me that you learn a lot, I believe that. I believe that that relationship was inspiring.

00:26:29 Speaker_00
Generous, too. That's another thing. Really generous on set. you know, and aware that he's got he was working with someone who was pretty green. I mean, I'd only done a couple of films, and I'm still a little bit like this. But but, you know, just warm.

00:26:43 Speaker_00
And yeah, he was it was a very happy time. But here's the funny thing, you know, again, too young to realize that that doesn't mean the film's gonna be a hit. Right. And they're going, Wow, I'm in Hollywood. And this is, it's really good. And it is.

00:26:58 Speaker_00
It's a great film. And the proof with that one is, is that people still refer to it. Thank you for what you said. I mean, you're, and you're right, it holds up. Oh, my God. But at the time, it just sort of disappeared.

00:27:09 Speaker_00
And I kind of, you know, that was my first taste of Oh, Oh, you got to keep trying. You got to keep throwing the spaghetti at the wall, because nothing really sticks, right?

00:27:19 Speaker_05
But, and I think, yeah, you know, it's funny, you do have that, again, as a consumer of it, and somebody who watched it and adored it, to me, it was a hit, in the sense that it worked and it was brilliant and all that kind of stuff.

00:27:32 Speaker_05
So I walked out of the theater with whomever and said, like, God, that was an incredible film and blah, blah, blah. So I sort of put it in that place that it's an incredible film. I don't know if that happens.

00:27:43 Speaker_00
Yeah, the accounts of the studio. No, exactly. But it's funny how, you know, if if it stays in your, I mean, it's not one of those we look back on and go, it worked at the time.

00:27:53 Speaker_00
But you know, again, this is why it's such a shame in a way that films are judged on their, you know, opening weekend. Yes, you think let's come back and re review this in 10 years, five years, 10.

00:28:04 Speaker_07
Well, that's one of the things I like about streaming, right? Like there is no sort of scorecard. There's no sort of results. It's just, it's up there. And if you like it, you tell somebody about it and then they watch it, they might like it.

00:28:19 Speaker_07
And it's just, people then experience it when they want, how they want. And I just, I like that it's just on the merits. There's no, it's not qualified by- And all catalogs get rediscovered again, right?

00:28:31 Speaker_00
Like someone was saying that Grey's Anatomy is this show that's suddenly being watched by everybody.

00:28:38 Speaker_05
Oh, all these shows. What's the show?

00:28:40 Speaker_00
Suits.

00:28:41 Speaker_05
Suits. Suits has had this thing where everybody's, people are like, oh, have you watched Suits?

00:28:46 Speaker_06
But I wonder what the algorithm or their thing says to, let's try Suits, let's try Grey's Anatomy, you know, like, I wonder. And it's interesting. Um, you know, Jude... Yeah, sorry, Sean. No, I was just... You go, you go, you go, you go, you go.

00:29:00 Speaker_05
You know what? I'm going. I was just gonna say this, which is, so you do Gattaca and you come out and it brings you out here and it kind of introduces and brings you to Hollywood. And then, what was the gap?

00:29:10 Speaker_05
You did that and then you did, uh, I wanna say that you did, well, the time between that and, uh, Talented Mr. Ripley. Because those were both late 90s films that were really amazing, impactful films.

00:29:27 Speaker_00
Yeah, Ripley really raised my game because of the nominations and the other people in it.

00:29:33 Speaker_00
There was a little bit of a, there were a few tumbleweed moments between Gattaca and Ripley, where because Gattaca hadn't been a financial hit, I did a couple of smaller parts, but still there's that thing of, it's not consistent.

00:29:52 Speaker_00
And Ripley really was a leap. For me.

00:29:55 Speaker_07
And then you were on the set with another gem, Matt Damon. I'll bet you had a great time with him, too. Yeah, I mean, he could be.

00:30:01 Speaker_05
He's a little... I mean... He's not bright, but... No, he's not bright. Matt's really not that bright. He's really hot and cold, let's be honest. And he blew it. He blew it at Wordle this morning. I busted two days ago. I bet you did, too. I did not.

00:30:16 Speaker_05
Everybody else busted on that day, and I did not. I got a six.

00:30:19 Speaker_07
Wait, what was it again? Was it radar or something like that?

00:30:22 Speaker_05
No, no, no, no. I'll tell you right now, because Bob texted me about it, and he was like, what did you get today? Have you tried quartal? Don't get him started, Jude.

00:30:31 Speaker_05
I do Quirtle, Turtle, and Wirtle, all three, every morning with Matt and two other guys. Every morning for three years. That's consistent. Every morning.

00:30:41 Speaker_07
Get back to your guest.

00:30:43 Speaker_05
Get back to your guest. Wait, so you do a couple Tumbleweeds and then you do Ripley. Did you know Anthony Minghella before? No.

00:30:53 Speaker_00
I was working, I did this really odd little film with a director from Hong Kong and Anthony's wife was one of the producers on it. And he was watching the rushes for that while he was casting. I mean, I look back on that decision.

00:31:11 Speaker_00
I don't know how, I mean, I don't know what he saw.

00:31:16 Speaker_07
I mean, it's amazing.

00:31:17 Speaker_00
It's amazing.

00:31:17 Speaker_07
Some raw talent and somebody pretty easy on the eyes. Hell of a leap, though. Was his daughter Hannah around? The great Hannah Minghella?

00:31:23 Speaker_00
The great Hannah. And Max. Max, who's now a director, was like a little boy on set of that. He was, I think, whenever, say, 10? Was Hannah there, too? panels around.

00:31:33 Speaker_07
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, right. And in that way, now that was shot in some beautiful spots too, right?

00:31:40 Speaker_00
Yeah. I mean, I look, you know, on location in all down the coast in Italy, we rehearsed at the famous Cinecitta studio in Rome. And then we shot in Rome, we shot in Ischia, which is this beautiful island off Naples. Near Capri. Near Capri.

00:31:58 Speaker_00
There's three, then Progida, and yeah, it was beautiful.

00:32:01 Speaker_05
But you're down there, sorry, I just want to say, because... Oh, God, this is so delicious to me.

00:32:06 Speaker_07
It's you. Sean, I think Will's falling as much in love with him as I am.

00:32:11 Speaker_05
I've been in love with Jude since we had that dinner over at our buddy's house a few months ago. What a great dinner. I thought it was a table for two. We were all there. That was a great dinner.

00:32:23 Speaker_05
So it was you and Matt and Gwyneth Paltrow and Phil Hoffman.

00:32:29 Speaker_00
Phil Hoffman.

00:32:31 Speaker_05
The great Phil Hoffman, Kay Boccia. I mean, what it... And then Antony Minghella directing, and you're in Italy. And my question is, when you do something like that, it's kind of like the Gattaca thing in a way, but it's different.

00:32:42 Speaker_05
Do you... Are you able to, in the moment, Did you appreciate it? Did you have moments where you went, like, man, this is really amazing? Or not?

00:32:51 Speaker_00
Is it wasted on you? Not as much as I wish I had.

00:32:53 Speaker_05
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:55 Speaker_00
There was a bit of me looking back. But now you can, I'll bet.

00:32:58 Speaker_00
Well, yeah, I'm better at it, but there's, you know, in that I kind of thought, well, this is what movies are like, you know, sitting on a beach and sailing a yacht and hanging out with all these cool young movie stars.

00:33:09 Speaker_00
And it was exceptionally special because of the, you know,

00:33:15 Speaker_00
the goodwill that Anthony had deservedly been given through the success of the English patient and the people that he had assembled were, you know, pretty extraordinary group from the cast to all the crew.

00:33:32 Speaker_00
It was a great experience and I wish I'd been a little better at just living in it and realizing how special it was.

00:33:40 Speaker_07
But the number of projects that you've done you know, speaking about your ability to assess whether you're, you know, on board a sinking ship or not, you know, it's just the number of projects that you've done is just outstanding.

00:33:57 Speaker_07
And they're all like huge hits. Well, yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, there's a lot of people that have worked a lot, but it's just because they just think they don't like home and they'll just do whatever. Everything you've done has been incredible.

00:34:10 Speaker_07
You've certainly been incredible in it. Some of, you know, out of your own power.

00:34:16 Speaker_05
JB, but also not just the volume, but how different a lot of them have been tonally.

00:34:23 Speaker_07
And also just like doing Shakespeare on Broadway and shit. I mean, like this guy, you don't know what you're dealing with with this guy.

00:34:29 Speaker_06
Jude, I remember like Jason just said, all of these great things that you've done your whole life. And then I remember when Spy came out with Melissa McCarthy and I was like, is that Jude Law? Like it was the greatest left-hand turn ever.

00:34:43 Speaker_06
I was like, I've never seen Jude do something like this.

00:34:46 Speaker_00
It was so good. I was just mad about her. I just so wanted to work with her and witness. I think a lot of honestly, I've been thinking about this recently, about why what kind of drives me and a lot of it is curiosity.

00:35:01 Speaker_00
It's why I've kind of done different franchises to I sort of, you know, I really I'm a bit of a film nerd. Like I just love going to the movies and going to you know, seeing stuff and having an opinion.

00:35:11 Speaker_00
But I'm also kind of dead curious about, how do they do that? How's that done? And she was flying at that time. And her and Paul Feig and that work that they were doing, I just wanted to witness it. I'll be honest, I...

00:35:25 Speaker_00
did not feel I was in my comfort zone. Really? There's a scene opposite her, I suddenly realized very clearly, oh, you're the straight guy. Okay, this is fine, I can play that.

00:35:35 Speaker_00
Because Paul's coming over, writing all these notes, going, try that, try this. And she's just firing off, I mean, I'm holding it together, just trying to keep a straight face. just don't lose it and really make a fool of yourself.

00:35:47 Speaker_00
But my goodness, the speed and the ideas and then just talk about going off on a tangent. What are you talking about?

00:35:59 Speaker_05
She's an absolute comedy titan. I mean, Melissa McCarthy is great. And also, by the way, should we mention our good friend, well, my good friend, Jason, yours too, Pete Serafin, which is in that film as well. Inspired by our lovely Pete.

00:36:13 Speaker_00
He's fantastic in that film. There's a scene where the two of them, I think, handcuffed together, right? And they're kind of lying on top of each other. It's a weird sort of sexy make-out scene, kind of escape. God, he's good.

00:36:26 Speaker_05
He's so good. By the way, a great Pete Scherf story. Last year, I hadn't spoken to him in about 18 months, maybe almost two years. And we were quite good friends years ago. I mean, we still are, but we sort of hadn't talked to each other.

00:36:40 Speaker_05
And out of the blue, I texted him, so what else is going on? And after a night, I saw that it had been a couple of years. And he answered almost immediately, that's about it. So, so funny.

00:36:57 Speaker_07
That's good. So Jude, with all of the great incoming calls I'm sure you get, how do you, is there, I'm sure you base your choices on many, many things, but is there one thing that is above all else will drag you towards a project? Is it the director?

00:37:14 Speaker_07
Sorry, I was just so resistant. Yeah, of course. Well, but I mean, look, you know, everyone needs it. Is it filmmaker? Is it role? Is it location? Is it money? Is it schedule? Is there one thing that is most important to you ever or is it change?

00:37:35 Speaker_00
I kind of balance it up, you know, I love the idea of a challenge, a little bit like the role I play in The Order, which just felt like something completely new and different.

00:37:45 Speaker_00
And the opportunity to work with someone like Justin on that, who I knew would, I was in good hands, and he would, he'd sort of take me there. He's the director. You know, those films, Justin Cazelle, yeah. And he,

00:37:56 Speaker_00
That experience was a very good experience, you know, but you have to balance a film like that with, you know, then I was like, okay, now I need to pay my rent.

00:38:03 Speaker_00
So, you know, you've got to kind of find something that's going to balance that out, but also... Black rabbit. I'm curious.

00:38:11 Speaker_05
God, fuck, G, what a shot in the nuts. He did your thing for the money. Dude, you're in love with the guy, you've had a great experience, and he only did it for the fucking dough.

00:38:22 Speaker_07
And while he was there, he did a great job.

00:38:24 Speaker_05
You're a paycheck to him. Keep going, dude. Sorry I interrupted.

00:38:30 Speaker_00
I mean, you mentioned kind of all the boxes that you check, right? And all of them, at a different time, have a different order. So sometimes, yeah, it's, where are we filming this? who's in it, who, all of those things come to play.

00:38:46 Speaker_05
Family, like we're bringing kids and all that kind of stuff is important too.

00:38:49 Speaker_00
Yeah. So, I mean, specifically over the last two years, I've got a house that's being renovated and I'm having one of those nightmares. Uh, and it's just going on and on and on.

00:39:00 Speaker_00
So me and my wife and the two little ones, I've just been like, okay, well let's just travel the world. Let's just go wherever I'm working. So we've been two years. For two years, so we really have.

00:39:09 Speaker_00
We've been in California, then we were in Canada, and then France, and then Australia, and then New York. So it's been a while, but that really has been just following the work.

00:39:22 Speaker_06
And the kids love it.

00:39:23 Speaker_00
And they're very little. They're both under five, so it's not like, you know, as long as we're both there looking calm and happy, they're calm and happy.

00:39:34 Speaker_06
Exactly. Do you ever find, like, I always find that fascinating when you do have this schedule that you do, do you miss a home base? Do you miss a groundedness to come back to?

00:39:44 Speaker_00
I thought I would more, but I really haven't. And we've found some really beautiful homes around and some not so great, but mostly really good experiences. I'll tell you what I have found hard.

00:39:56 Speaker_00
I found it really hard going back to UK because without my house, like I had this lovely home there for, you know, I've always lived there. But going there, as a visitor and sort of renting something, it just doesn't feel right. It feels weird.

00:40:09 Speaker_00
It's really disconcerting. I was just there for a couple of weeks to see my family, my parents, and I don't know. But equally I've learned I quite like being a foreigner. I quite like being a foreigner in a city.

00:40:22 Speaker_00
It feels slightly less emotionally tiring. I don't know why. In the UK, you know, I read the news about the UK and I'm like, oh, not again. What are they doing? You know, I feel so emotionally invaded. It's like your uncle letting you down.

00:40:37 Speaker_00
You're like, oh, don't behave like that.

00:40:40 Speaker_06
Yeah, we don't have anything like that here.

00:40:41 Speaker_00
Whereas here, I'm like, well, it's not my problem.

00:40:46 Speaker_07
So when you go back and you're sitting with your parents at dinner, is there ever a time to reflect and go back, like we're doing now, about, hey, remember when you guys kind of lit the fuse in me with the theater and stuff?

00:40:56 Speaker_07
Like, things have worked out.

00:40:58 Speaker_00
A little bit. My mom's not so well. The light in my mom is... I'm sorry. Well, the spirit of my mom is slowly, slowly fading. She's happy and she's not in pain, but she's, you know, she's not who she... She was very much the... lightning in our family.

00:41:16 Speaker_00
She was the kind of trailblazer. She was the one putting on these plays and telling, you know, packing up our crazy little French De Chavot car and saying, right, we're gonna drive across France and camp. And she just was full of energy.

00:41:30 Speaker_00
And really, I think a big part of why I'm doing what I do and my sister does what she does. So I don't, I miss that with her. I certainly have that with my sister still and my dad. And that's fun. It's nice looking back at those.

00:41:45 Speaker_00
It's interesting, isn't it, the further away you get from that formative time, how you can reflect on what impact it was having on you and what direction it was sending you in, you know?

00:41:58 Speaker_01
We'll be right back. And back to the show.

00:42:05 Speaker_07
And having done all the stuff that you've done and really proven any point you ever would have wanted to make or make people proud or yourself proud, like, I can't imagine that there's any box left unchecked, but you tell me, is there something, if it came your way, you go, ah, yeah, that I have not yet done or I've been avoiding?

00:42:30 Speaker_07
Is it a freaking musical? Is it a voice in an animated film? You've just touched so many things.

00:42:37 Speaker_00
There are definitely filmmakers out there that I admire immensely and would really love to work with. And there's the odd part.

00:42:48 Speaker_00
Yeah, but not sort of, I mean, there are roles in Shakespeare that I'd love to play one day on stage, but that's sort of not necessarily immediately.

00:42:57 Speaker_00
But honestly, something you and I talked about and something you're so good at encouraging, I've seen you do it with others, is directing. I love the idea of it. It scares the hell out of me. You make it look incredibly straightforward and easy.

00:43:11 Speaker_00
I don't know how you do that. I mean, watching you direct, lead that team out of the gate, and perform in it was really quite remarkable, mate. And it kept making me think. Having a partner like you makes it easy, truly.

00:43:26 Speaker_00
It made me really look at it and consider again. It scares me because of the scale of the decisions.

00:43:31 Speaker_05
Is it one of those because you thought, like, fuck, if this guy could do it, then anybody could? I get that. That makes sense. It's not as scary. If this Simpleton, if this...

00:43:42 Speaker_05
No, talk a little bit about it, because he is, and Jason is, and we are so proud of him. We love him dearly, and we're so proud of what he's been able to do. What it was like working with Jason as a director.

00:43:53 Speaker_05
Talk a little bit about that, because we do talk about it, but we haven't had anybody on here, really, to talk about that experience.

00:44:00 Speaker_00
Okay. The mood. So talking to those who don't know. Talk about his explosion. This is the thing. You know, you guys will know, the most important thing I think on a film set is the atmosphere, right?

00:44:13 Speaker_00
It's a massive team, all these different groups and skill sets doing all these different things, but they all want to be appreciated. They all want their their time, and they will need their time. And Jason's just a master at keeping that going.

00:44:27 Speaker_00
I mean, the spirit of this company, I've got to tell you, cast, crew, everyone, was so positive. I mean, that was demonstrated at the end. We had a wonderful wrap party. Everybody's there with their family.

00:44:37 Speaker_00
Everyone stays from, like, early doors to the close. I mean, it was so popular. Which is unusual. Yeah, it is unusual. And that was led by him. And the style of the piece was set up by Jason because it was his... how he saw it.

00:44:52 Speaker_00
And he, like I said, led us out of the gates. He directed the first two. And so setting that up and getting that right and sort of, what's the word, ingraining it in the DNA of the piece. And then as an actor, right?

00:45:05 Speaker_00
And then he's also there as an actor playing opposite you, leading by example, but also

00:45:12 Speaker_00
There are those moments where suddenly it's just those little tiny words of suggestion, or little tiny nudges like, this is great, this is good, but should we go down this path? Should we try this?

00:45:23 Speaker_00
And it's those moments where you feel like, oh, this is so much fun. You're kind of playing. And even if you're doing a really dramatic scene, you're kind of giggling to yourself, thinking like, oh, we're doing this.

00:45:35 Speaker_07
And our parents are out of town.

00:45:37 Speaker_00
Yeah, and we're allowed to.

00:45:40 Speaker_05
We can't keep going. Yeah, JB, do you have that a little bit of like, I can't believe I got the keys to the car here.

00:45:44 Speaker_07
Oh, every second of the day. And all the toys. Yeah, exactly. And it was also sort of like, you got to be such a smarty pants when you're directing and be sort of serious and you got to think about every corner of the room.

00:45:57 Speaker_07
But then this character I was playing was such a dingbat, like a lovely sort of like just simpleton. And so happy to throw that switch in between like, okay, here we go, ready? Yeah, okay, let's roll. And then I was sort of joking.

00:46:12 Speaker_07
I told Jude, I said, you know, the sort of the, what do you call it? The fix or the secret to going into my character, all I have to do is just separate my jaw. Because this guy's kind of a mouth breather.

00:46:25 Speaker_07
Yeah, I go from director to this character by just separating my jaw. And we're ready to go. Here we go. Let's roll. That's really funny.

00:46:34 Speaker_05
Well, I will say, I will say, before you'd actually directed, you'd actually directed before, but I will say our experience of working on Arrested Development, Jason was the ultimate team captain.

00:46:45 Speaker_05
And I also learned a lot about what it takes to be a captain. No, but what it takes to be a captain from that guy. Potentially the only thing I learned, because he has nothing else to teach you. I can get you to 10.

00:46:58 Speaker_05
You can count to 10 and I can teach you. What's your impression, Jude? Just a quickly thin slice of Sean. Take a look at him over there. I look like a thin sliced take of white bread. I mean, be honest, be brutally honest.

00:47:16 Speaker_00
I like the idea, I'm gonna join Sean in that bubble. I like the idea of being pushed around. Just zip him in. Yeah, let's just go.

00:47:23 Speaker_07
He's just trying to keep his powder dry for the Star Wars section of the interview, which we can start now, Sean, if you're all set and ready to go.

00:47:30 Speaker_06
But I have one question before, I am ready to go on that. But one question before. Scotty slides in on a chair like Sarah Knight and we can update you. Just like this. And we're just saying stuff. No, Jude, you know, we touched on it before a little bit.

00:47:42 Speaker_06
I wanna go back just for a second with that kind of air, that time when you're sitting between jobs and you're like, God, is something gonna come? And that uncertainty of what we do.

00:47:51 Speaker_06
When you were younger and you went through those, did you have other jobs? Is there any time where you're like, God, I should start thinking of something else to do with my life because I don't think anything's gonna come.

00:48:01 Speaker_06
talented mystery replicants, or whatever it is.

00:48:04 Speaker_00
Fortunately not, and I lived a pretty simple life early on. And then I became a father pretty young, and that would be all-consuming. So that I was always, I mean, it, it, it, it, there was always something to do.

00:48:19 Speaker_06
So fatherhood didn't scare you into thinking about another occupation? Well, luckily... Like another study?

00:48:25 Speaker_00
It was never that, it was never so much that I suddenly thought, And if it was, then I was usually saved by the life support of another job or a potential another job.

00:48:35 Speaker_00
But I realized in the last couple of years, it's been a really big shift for me with my company, because suddenly, even if they're not coming to fruition, although we've had a pretty good run in the last couple of years, just having the sense that you've got your hands on the reins and you can develop stuff and you're communicating with writers and directors.

00:48:54 Speaker_00
This is Riff Raff with the great Ben Jackson. Great Ben Jackson, who's been alongside me for like 22 years. And the company has given me a much better sense of navigating those moments of thinking.

00:49:08 Speaker_00
Because ultimately you're still an actor waiting for someone to think you're right for a part.

00:49:13 Speaker_07
But if you can cook your own food, you know, that's a real privileged place to be. And you don't take it lightly and you work really, really hard as a producer, as does he.

00:49:23 Speaker_00
Yeah, I love it. I like the process of I love finding ideas. I love introducing writers to directors and seeing that kind of blossom and bloom and that is a sign I love it.

00:49:35 Speaker_07
That's the way it happened with Order, right? Didn't you contact Justin Kurzel for this? That's right. That's right. What was that conversation like? Did you know him before?

00:49:44 Speaker_00
No, not at all. You were just a fan of... Massive fan. And you know when you suddenly, someone, and it's never me, I'm really good at chiming in having an opinion, but I'm never someone, I'm never very good with a blank page.

00:49:54 Speaker_00
You know when people go, okay, let's discuss the directors. I always go, uh... Yeah. And you know, you can't be, I want to be the smart one who goes, I've got a left-of-field idea. I'm always like, you go first.

00:50:06 Speaker_00
And then I'm really strong to go, no, no, no, not them, not them, not them. But someone mentioned Justin, I think it was Zach, or it could have been Brian. Zach Bailyn. Zach Bailyn, our wonderful writer, who we worked together on Black Rabbit.

00:50:18 Speaker_00
And it just was one of those Oh, yes. This is perfect fit.

00:50:24 Speaker_00
This guy makes, this guy looks at really dark areas and kind of toxic people, but puts them in a world where you, you start, it's not about empathizing with them, but you understand them and he makes it kind of safe for you to go into their worlds.

00:50:40 Speaker_00
And then he also operates on this high energy. He's a big guy and he loves capturing the energy of scenes and drama and he was just the perfect fit. So yeah, we had, it was, we Zoomed with him.

00:50:53 Speaker_00
He was in his house in Tasmania with his big beard and it looked literally like, and his hair all blown. It looked like he'd just come off a, you know, hauled in a whale and kind of come in. And just blew us away with his insight.

00:51:08 Speaker_00
Yeah, I think I can do this.

00:51:10 Speaker_07
Yeah. And then when we were looking to get a director for the finale of Black Rabbit, Zach and Jude and Zach's partner, Kate, they suggested Justin Kurzel. And I was like, Are you fucking kidding?

00:51:24 Speaker_07
We're not gonna get Justin Krizzel to direct the finale of this thing? And they're like, no, no, no, we can ask him. What do you mean you can ask him? How do you know him? Well, we just finished a movie with him. Come on, you guys just did a movie?

00:51:35 Speaker_07
So I had no idea that they had just worked with Justin. And thank God it went well, because they reached out and asked him and he... He answered the phone.

00:51:44 Speaker_05
Was the reaction from the crew when he came to it was like, now we got a director on set. Now we can get going.

00:51:49 Speaker_00
Exactly. We just heaved that up. I know, I know, I know.

00:51:53 Speaker_05
But by the way, if I don't do it, if I didn't say that, Jason would call me after and say, are you okay? Like, are you sick? You were a little slow today.

00:52:02 Speaker_02
A little after the weather.

00:52:04 Speaker_06
Let's talk about Star Wars. Yes, Andor, Acolyte. Where does Star Wars' skeleton crew come in the line?

00:52:13 Speaker_00
I mean, it's absolutely standalone. Oh, it is. I like that. Yeah. I mean, it fits in, I think it's around the same time as The Mandalorian. But here's what got me, you know, I was six, seven, when the first film came out.

00:52:27 Speaker_00
And I was thinking about this the other day. I mean, I don't remember going, I maybe saw The Rescuers or 101 Dalmatians. Yeah, totally. And then Star Wars. So to me, that was cinema. I was like, holy cow, what the hell is this?

00:52:43 Speaker_00
And not only that, for the next five years, it was what I played. I was living it. I was running around my yard going, pew pew, I'm Han, I'm Vader. Still am. And, you know, so it was formative. And John Watts just had this awesome idea.

00:53:04 Speaker_00
He called me and said, so look, you know, what if we, all that awe and wonder and dazzle that we had as kids, what if we put the kids in that world?

00:53:16 Speaker_00
So it's taking goonies, it's taking normal kids, you kind of argue, and they don't get on with their parents, or they don't get on with each other, or they don't like school, they run away, they get lost, and they're in that world.

00:53:26 Speaker_06
That's cool.

00:53:27 Speaker_00
That's really cool. And I was just like, this is a great idea. I love that.

00:53:31 Speaker_07
Have you enjoyed that style of work with the sort of the volume stages, the green screen, the- It was all volume, luckily, yeah.

00:53:39 Speaker_00
I mean, I think had it been all green, I don't know that I would have enjoyed it as much. I've done that before. The volume is really wonderful. I mean, it's super- Really?

00:53:47 Speaker_07
For Tracy, this is a stage that's basically every wall is like a big movie screen. So you're kind of living- With high definition. Yeah, you're living in an atmosphere.

00:53:56 Speaker_00
So they put the flooring in. So say you're on a moon, the floor is dust and sand and rocks and boulders, but it goes right up to the volume screen and then the perspective of the screen just carries on.

00:54:08 Speaker_00
So you can be standing in a desert that disappears for hundreds of miles with ships flying around you. And with a wind blower, they use a wind machine. So you're on. For all intents and purposes, you're on that moon.

00:54:20 Speaker_05
And so it's not just for the viewer, too. As an actor, when you're performing, you're actually seeing that. You're experiencing that as well.

00:54:28 Speaker_00
Yeah, that's really cool. And the same goes for their more cluttered set, like a market. We did this huge spaceport and they built all the...

00:54:36 Speaker_00
You know, the bars and the stalls and what have you, and each avenue looks like it just goes on and on and on and on, and you've got creatures crossing over, and of course, what you've really only got is, let's say, 50 foot of that, and then the rest is just all on these huge screens.

00:54:52 Speaker_00
Yeah, that's really cool.

00:54:53 Speaker_05
I want to go back to a question about... Sean, you could do one where you could have your dad like he's there. Oh, man, could you imagine? I don't think there's screens big enough. And you can have it so that he's not leaving, he's staying.

00:55:03 Speaker_05
You can just put the screen on pause. He's not leaving your family. Wait, before we get out of the skeleton crew world, talk about who else is in that with you, because I think I read somebody that I know is in that with you.

00:55:16 Speaker_00
Who else is in it? Kerry Condon. And Tunde from TV on the Radio. And then there are four kids. Do you know Tunde?

00:55:26 Speaker_05
He's a lovely guy. I met him a couple of times. He's really cool. I'm a big fan of TV on the Radio. Yeah, me too. And his interesting piece of trivia... He was great in Rachel Got Married. Remember he was in that?

00:55:35 Speaker_00
That's right. That's right. Demi. Demi Phil. Yeah, yeah. Did they play all the music live in that? I think they did. Did they really? In real time.

00:55:45 Speaker_00
I think that was the idea on that film, that when, because remember, they're in a band and they're all playing at the wedding.

00:55:50 Speaker_05
I love the way that film looked. Do you remember the color of that film? Yeah.

00:55:53 Speaker_07
Was it Ted Demme or Jonathan Demme? Oh, good question. Jonathan. Both, yeah.

00:55:59 Speaker_05
Um, Jude, when you named all those... Nick Frost. Is Nick Frost in it? Nick Frost is the voice of a droid. Oh, I love Nick Frost. Nick Frost is one of my favorites. Sorry, Sean, he's one of my favorites of all time. I love Nick.

00:56:12 Speaker_03
He's so... Me too. ...fucking... We all know. He's so fucking... Yeah, he is funny.

00:56:19 Speaker_06
When you were going, Jude, when you were talking about going from city to city to, you know, in the last few years, just going all those cities you named, is it hard to keep a schedule for eating properly, working out, taking care of yourself, with the time differences, and then living in a trailer, and then coming back to a hotel?

00:56:36 Speaker_06
It seems like so... It's like, to me, it seems so disruptive. But a gorgeous life, because we're all doing what we love to do. But how do you maintain a good schedule for yourself?

00:56:48 Speaker_00
Allow a lot of time when I land somewhere to get over jet lag. I'm not one of those people who can just pick straight up and get it. I'm like, give me a couple of days. Because I think jet lag really is like an illness.

00:56:59 Speaker_00
You've got to kind of love yourself a bit and go. It's like you've got flu. Just go to bed, you know. But you've also then, yeah, once you're out of that,

00:57:07 Speaker_00
I enjoy, I really like keeping fit, so I train quite hard every day, usually before I go to work, so whatever that time is, I usually go do something for an hour, and then I usually take my own food, so I can eat when I really want.

00:57:22 Speaker_00
I can't be doing on a set, where they're like, lunch! And you're like, it's 5pm, what are you talking about? What was I meant to eat? I've got to eat at the right time. Right, right. So I eat, like, I get up and I eat in the morning.

00:57:33 Speaker_00
I make sure I've got food so when it's midday or 1, I eat my lunch. Yeah.

00:57:37 Speaker_05
Are you particular about your food? Like, do you eat quite healthily?

00:57:42 Speaker_00
Yeah, I'll eat anything. But I kind of get, I can feel myself getting a bit slower and stodgier if I don't eat well.

00:57:52 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:57:53 Speaker_00
But I'm not, I am, kind of got a funny relationship. Like, I really love a good restaurant. I love good food. But equally, it's just fuel. You know what I mean? I like lamb. You like lamb? I love lamb. Lamb chops? Yes, I love lamb chops. Hang on a second.

00:58:08 Speaker_05
Hey, man, we're not doing non sequiturs at a left field right now. I love lamb! You know what? I had lamb last night.

00:58:19 Speaker_07
Wait, there at the house, or did you go to a restaurant, Willie?

00:58:22 Speaker_05
No, I had lamb at home here, yeah. And you know what I was really upset about? Was it a lamb shank? They were lamb chops, and I didn't have any... Somehow, there was no mint jelly or mint sauce.

00:58:34 Speaker_00
You see, my wife loves the mint jelly. I'm not fussed about it. As long as it's got a little seasoning on it...

00:58:41 Speaker_05
Yeah. I just, I really need it. You know, Jude, we, honestly, I don't know about you guys, I mean, we could just keep this going forever, probably. I told you.

00:58:50 Speaker_03
I know.

00:58:50 Speaker_05
You were, Jason, you were so right. He's, and we're gonna save this for the wrap up, but he is something else. Uh, Jude, what an absolute delight. We have kept you waiting.

00:59:00 Speaker_04
Oh, God.

00:59:01 Speaker_07
I'm so happy you did this. We'll do it again when Black Rabbit comes on in about a year.

00:59:05 Speaker_05
Yes, we got it.

00:59:07 Speaker_07
And I just, I'm crazy about you. Love you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm actually going to call you right after the end of this because I need to ask you a question about something. But thank you, buddy, for doing this. Enjoy the rest of your press trip.

00:59:20 Speaker_07
Stay rested and get back to the family and enjoy the winter.

00:59:24 Speaker_00
It's what a joy, and so lovely to see the three of you. This has been a joy to thank you.

00:59:28 Speaker_07
Yeah, it's good to see you, Jude. Great luck with the order. Everybody, go see the order. It's so damn good, you guys.

00:59:34 Speaker_05
Go see anything that Jude's in it. Go see it, go watch it, go stream it, go see it. Jude, you are a gentleman. Thank you, sir. Take care. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, buddy. Bye.

00:59:45 Speaker_07
Do I do that? He did it. He did it.

00:59:49 Speaker_06
He's fantastic.

00:59:51 Speaker_07
So guys, I'm telling you, this guy, if you think he's great on a podcast or a Zoom call, try going in the trenches with him for eight months.

01:00:01 Speaker_06
You always talked about how much joy you had with him.

01:00:05 Speaker_05
You really did. And you... And it was unsolicited. Like, you would just be like, God, that's your lie. While you were making it, from every stage of it, you're like, God, this guy is great. God, you know, blah, blah, blah.

01:00:15 Speaker_05
Like, you were just... And you meant it. Yeah.

01:00:18 Speaker_07
He's one of the best partners ever. I'll tell you, one of the other ones was a guy we mentioned was Matt Damon. Did that little bit on air. I mean, like, just the level of experience and professionalism with these guys is just not to be undervalued.

01:00:35 Speaker_06
Also probably comes from gratitude too, like we all know what it's like not to work and then when you get, you know, when you're lucky enough to be in a position.

01:00:42 Speaker_07
Yeah, they definitely appreciate where they're at. JB, have you ever seen that, Gattaca? I did, but I don't remember it, which is not uncommon.

01:00:49 Speaker_06
Sean, you've seen it, right? I can't believe I've never seen it. Sean... I know, I'm gonna watch it.

01:00:54 Speaker_05
I really urge people, and again, I've waxed on a lot, but that film is really a remarkable film. It's really good, and Jude is so... It's hard to imagine... that it's one of the first things he did, because he's so excellent in it.

01:01:11 Speaker_07
You know, he never, he's one of those actors, never sucks.

01:01:13 Speaker_05
Never, ever. You're exactly right, JP. He's in the John Goodman school. He never, ever sucks. Ever.

01:01:20 Speaker_07
Actors who know kind of what their goalposts are, and have the discipline to not, you know, or the overindulgence to step outside of that, like, he finds a version of himself in every character that he does, and yet he never plays anything safe.

01:01:32 Speaker_07
So, you know, it's just... Pretty cool. Thank you for bringing him on.

01:01:37 Speaker_05
Yeah, I was so happy to be able to have him, because obviously he should have been your guest, but I was happy to... Well, I wanted him a long time ago, before you guys started working together. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah.

01:01:49 Speaker_05
So I wanted him a long time ago, and then it just sort of, this is when it happened. I'm glad that we made it through the entire interview without talking about fucking Robert Downey, you know what I mean? Oh, that guy.

01:02:01 Speaker_05
About Sherlock, because Downey has gotten so much fucking free air. I'm so mad at Downey. What? Because why? Just in general, just because... His success. The success. His success. And I know he's very deserving of it, blah, blah.

01:02:19 Speaker_07
But I'm just kind of, you know... Let's have a counterpoint. Where do you think he's over-indexing?

01:02:26 Speaker_05
Opinions. Yeah. He's, he'll just, he'll call me, he'll, you want to talk about FaceTime, you always, he Face, Downey FaceTimes in a way like it's so out of the blue. Uninvited.

01:02:39 Speaker_05
And then he's in the bath and he'll go, you know, I was thinking what you should do. And I'm like, fucking what, man?

01:02:45 Speaker_07
Towel off and just call me or write me.

01:02:50 Speaker_05
I do love him. I do love him to death, though, I will say. He's doing a big play. Go see his play. Go see McNeil with our good friend Robert Downey. I think it's probably closed by now. Well, it depends when this airs. Oh, yeah, it depends on when it airs.

01:03:02 Speaker_05
Lincoln Center. But I tell you what never closes is Jude Law's talent. Oh, so good. That's always open. Always open. 24-7.

01:03:10 Speaker_05
Think about all... Jay, you said... And Sean, you named out like... Think about all the different films that he's... When I was thinking about... But you're not even touching his theater.

01:03:20 Speaker_07
This guy has been on Broadway with like Othello or Hamlet or Macbeth or probably all three of them. I think he got a Tony nomination for one of those.

01:03:27 Speaker_05
Or maybe one. I mean, he's just done... Yeah, he's... We didn't mention... We did not mention the Sherlock Holmes films, which were major, major hits. Road to Perdition, you ever seen that? Incredible. Yeah, so good. I love that movie.

01:03:43 Speaker_05
Cold Mountain, he got an Academy Award nomination for that, was amazing. A.I.? He was in that film A.I. back in... Yeah, I love that. Like 20 years ago. Yeah. Enemy at the Gates, you ever seen that film?

01:03:54 Speaker_05
Enemy at the Gates, where he plays, I think he plays like a sniper in Stalingrad, is that the one? Oh, wow, really? No, I haven't seen that one. I'm up for all the same parts all the time.

01:04:04 Speaker_07
Three callbacks. You've been up for them. Yeah. The animated version of each of these.

01:04:11 Speaker_06
Real snipers, yeah. Really? Yeah, Sniper City. One's called Sniper City, the other one's called Sniper City. There's one, another one's called Sniper, I didn't even know her. Wow.

01:04:21 Speaker_05
You know what? I haven't heard of it. I wonder who all those were written in. Those are out now. I wonder who they were written by.

01:04:29 Speaker_06
Jason doesn't even say it.

01:04:35 Speaker_05
Say bye, Jason. Bye. Smart.

01:04:45 Speaker_04
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