Jude Law’s appearance as rich, beautiful playboy Dickie in the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley secured his international film stardom, but now the British actor has shared why he almost turned down the role.
Law told The Times of London that he was panicking about being typecast at that stage in his career. He said:
“It was delusion and madness. There was a panic in my head that I was going to be typecast as this good-looking guy. That’s where my 23-year-old brain was. What I missed, idiotically, were the complexities of that role, but honestly? I just wanted to be taken seriously.”
The Talented Mr Ripley film, also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was directed by Oscar winner Anthony Minghella and went on to make more than $120million at the box office. Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, it has recently been adapted into a series on Netflix.
Law’s most recent role in the film Firebrand sees him take on a late-life King Henry VIII, famous for having six wives and wielding his power capriciously in Tudor England. Law, who worked with shamed producer Harvey Weinstein on the film Cold Mountain in 2003, told The Times the fallen mogul must have crossed his mind in channelling the tyrannous monarch.
“I never thought of him specifically — I didn’t focus in on Harvey’s life and downfall. But I was very aware that Henry symbolises the downfall of many men who soared through life with great success and got drunk on power, abused it and fell. And so Harvey must have crossed my mind. That disregard …”
