second act Jude Law’s career did what it was supposed to do: It attracted the attention of the audience and helped it earn money. He insists that he is not in the category of actors who could retire tomorrow. “There are some numbers floating around about some actors getting paid one way or another, and they probably have so much money they’ll never work again,” he says. “(But) they choose it and it’s great. Their lives are (just) growing; costs are increasing, the number of pools to be cleaned is increasing. But I’m not in that category, so I really have to work.”

Yet something concrete has changed in the last five years. went to run away film And TV According to Starforce commander Yon-Rogg, they are projects at different levels. The work becomes increasingly bolder, more personal; It looks more like the career Law envisioned for himself. Started in 2016 Young PopePaolo Sorrentino’s sublime, genre-bending series about religion and morality. Then there was tension in 2020 Day Threeis an experimental series featuring 12 hours of live episodes shot in a single continuous take. Law appeared the same year. nest – one of his best films in decades – in which he plays Rory O’Hara, a British financier whose charm fails him as he tries to save a disintegrating marriage. then there is firefly And OrderThis led to murmurs at the film festival that Law should be in contention for his first Oscar nomination since 2004.

I told him he was in a new phase. A third act.

“I was excited to be a part of all the work you mentioned there and was really pleased with the results,” he says. “It’s actually very interesting; Our only common denominator is my wife. Meeting Phil and falling in love with him relationship The current situation has had a huge impact on my life. I’ve never been this happy. I’ve never felt so supported. And my home felt incredibly safe and secure. I don’t want this to sound like it’s never happened before, but when you meet a certain someone and you click with them and they understand your business and your needs, you’re in a good place. So I felt very nourished by that and by it.

Law met Phillipa shortly before filming Young Pope. In the film, he plays the rebellious priest Lenny with palpably high energy and a touch of transcendent happiness. For fans of his work, Law appeared to have found a new gear. Maybe it was just love: between takes, he and Phillipa were exploring Italy together, two decades after they did the same with the cast. ripley. I ask him if having him as a ballast has allowed him to make bolder choices in his work. “Yes, I think so,” he says. “Also, Phil is a psychologist. So we enjoy a very healthy relationship where we talk a lot about how we feel, our relationships with our friends, our relationships with our families, and he has a great perspective on all of that. I think one should start thinking in middle age. What are the patterns I create? What are the relationships I have? Why do I have these? How do I feel about them?”

Asking yourself these difficult questions made it easier to find the humanity in characters like Henry VIII. “It’s a really exciting and beautiful place to be in your own life,” she says. “And as an actor, this could be the start of a really exciting new approach to the roles you play and where you want to go.”

(There’s another, more mundane and rather sweet way in which home life affects his work, like injured FBI agent Terry Husk.) OrderThe transformation is astonishing and not just because of the 80s moustache. From the first shot, Law appears hollow, sunken, with bloodshot eyes. This is partly because his character is expected to symbolize American society shaken by the reemergence of the far right. “And equally, if I’m really honest,” she says, “I was taking advantage of the fact that I had a one-year-old and a two-year-old at home, and I was absolutely clumsy.”)