The role Jude Law never wants to play again: “Would I do another one? Probably not”
Cast your minds all the way to 1999 and the film The Talented Mr Ripley. As well as elevating a young Matt Damon on his way to the top, the film also helped get the ball rolling on another future superstar: Jude Law.
Since that performance, things have gone from strength to strength for the handsome Englishman. He’s found success on both sides of the Atlantic, in both blockbusters and acclaimed awards favourites. He was also in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series, but nobody’s perfect.
In 2019, Law became one of the dozens and dozens of famous faces to join the hit machine that was the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He plays Yon-Rogg, a member of an alien race called the Kree. He starts off as an ally of the title character, played by Brie Larson, before it’s eventually revealed that he was actually evil the entire time. Sorry for the spoilers, but come on, if you’re not caught up with the MCU by now, then it’s never going to happen.
The Disney-backed monolith has been the making of several major stars since it launched in 2008. Law was already a big name, but a role in the biggest franchise of all time is the sort of thing that cements legacies. He discussed his part in the story with GQ, who were keen to find out if he would ever return to the superhero genre.
“Would I do another one?” he asked himself rhetorically. “Probably not.” Oh dear.
“It was all right,” he continued. “[My character] was a bit dry. I wanted to be a bit funnier. I was hoping to be a bit more of a sort of moustache-twirling villain, and I think I kept coming up with ideas that were not going in this film. And so I just sort of did what I was told.”
To give Law some credit, Captain Marvel isn’t exactly the crème de la crème of the studio’s output. It fell in an awkward spot in their release schedule, dropping just one month before their all-singing, all-dancing finale, Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps it would have stood out if it were better, but reviews from the time show that most people weren’t that impressed by it. Also, it had to deal with all the usual nonsense associated with a female-led superhero movie, a very sad fact of life.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Marvel villains don’t tend to fare as well as their heroes. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and the rest of the gang have all become megastars off the back of their turns in various supersuits, but can you say the same for Christopher Eccleston? Or Guy Pearce? Or Lee Pace? The only real actor to break out by playing a baddie in Marvel is Tom Hiddleston, although you could argue that Loki has become more of an antihero since his first appearance in Thor.
The MCU certainly hasn’t been for everyone, and it’s refreshing to hear the stars speak out against it. Jude Law clearly knows his own worth and is happy to walk away from something big if it doesn’t sit well with him. Given the way that the series has gone since 2019, he arguably made the right call.
