00:00Hello, I'm Jude Law.
00:01I'm Jurnee Smollett and we're from The Order.
00:04Welcome and enjoy In Conversation with Us Weekly.
00:09Coming away from The Order, tell me about a project that's one of your favorite
00:15from the past that has a special place in your heart and in your memory.
00:22Oh, that's a good question. Lovecraft?
00:26Yeah, I was hoping you'd say that.
00:28I geeked out on Lovecraft with you.
00:30Which is so sweet.
00:31But why was it a happy time? Just a good team, a good workplace, great people, great cast.
00:39Creatively challenging and creatively stimulating.
00:43Yeah, the best combination.
00:45Yeah, yeah, great writing, you know. It all starts with the words, we know that.
00:50And Misha Green created and wrote that project and I love the poetry of the metaphor of the
00:57monster. Who's the bigger monster, racism or it is Chagall standing in front of you, you know.
01:02And the irony of flipping the genre on its head, Lovecraft himself, you know,
01:07being who he was for horror, but also being so horrific when it comes to being a bigot and racist.
01:17But being able to redefine and re-own.
01:20I geeked out with you on that.
01:21That was so sweet.
01:22I love that series so much for all the reasons you said.
01:27I mean, there's just nothing better than that kind of
01:30brilliantly intelligent, but entertaining storytelling.
01:34And, you know, we can get lazy sometimes and think, yeah, this thing's all right.
01:37When something's really good, it's got to be celebrated.
01:41And that was, it was just dynamic and complicated.
01:46Just so well executed.
01:49It was one of your favorite projects you've done.
01:52And holds a special meaning to you.
01:53Um, film I made a couple of years ago called Firebrand with this wonderful film,
01:58filmmaker Kareem.
01:59I knew that was very, very happy because, again, it was like this low budget,
02:04quick schedule, but it was like all in and challenging.
02:09But if I look back, I would have to mention because it's been 25 years,
02:13The Talents of Mr. Ripley was like, I had no, I mean, I kind of took it for granted.
02:17I was like a 25 year old kid thinking, oh, this is just what films are like.
02:21And of course, I've never had the same experience again,
02:24sitting on a yacht, drinking wine in the sun.
02:28It's like a classic, like that contribution to the cinematic canon is huge.
02:34There have been so many films after that, that you could directly say, oh, they're copying.
02:40They're jockeying that one.
02:41Several recently.
02:45No, I mean, I remember seeing it in, in, I don't know if I saw the,
02:50I didn't see it in the theaters.
02:51I was too young to see it in the theaters.
02:52But I just remember that.
02:55I mean, it felt like old Hollywood.
02:56It felt like I was watching like a Hitchcock film or Anthony Minghella.
03:00But you know what?
03:01It's been funny now looking back all these years later is also genuinely remembering
03:07the, the youthful energy and optimism and sparkle of all these actors who have now gone on to have,
03:16you know, Kate Blanchett, Gwyneth, Matthew, Philip, who we lost.
03:21But I mean, amazing, amazing actors.
03:24And just so funny.
03:25It makes me laugh thinking of memories I have of us rehearsing.
03:28We were all like 25, 26.
03:31What were the rehearsals like?
03:32Did you guys?
03:33We really went for it with rehearsals.
03:35Minghella loved full on rehearsals.
03:37And we were rehearsing in the famous Chinachita cinemas where Fellini used to like his music.
03:41Come on.
03:42So you had the energy in the walls.
03:45So we were there acting it out like it was a play, really.
03:48And blocking, blocking, and then learning to ride scooters.
03:52And yeah, it was, it was fun times.
03:55Do you find that rehearsal frees you up?
03:58Or does it stifle you?
03:59I love rehearsals.
04:00But then you've got to also know, I mean, I trained in theater.
04:03So for me, rehearsals are vital.
04:05But the difference with rehearsing for film is you've got to know when to go, right.
04:08That's enough.
04:09That's enough.
04:09That's enough.
04:10You've got to stop it.
04:11You can't get there.
04:12I have, I've had that experience where I've overheard.
04:16You rehearsed yourself out of it.
04:17So I was doing, I was doing.
04:19You get to set and you go, I've got nothing.
04:21I'm still, I've got nothing.
04:23And I was called out.
04:24I was called out for it.
04:25It was great debaters.
04:26Denzel Washington was our director.
04:29And Denzel called you out for it.
04:30He absolutely, absolutely amazing.
04:34Getting called out by Denzel Washington.
04:36It was like a masterclass.
04:38I was like 19 years old.
04:39Amazing.
04:40And it was a big debate scene.
04:42It was the first debate we had shot.
04:45The film is all about debate.
04:46We'd gone to debate camp.
04:47He had us like in rehearsals, debating each other and, you know, and so in my head, I'm
04:54like, I'm going to crush this, man.
04:56I'm going to kill this scene.
04:57I get there and I was stale.
04:59I was over rehearsed and he knew it.
05:01And he came to me and he said, you over rehearsed.
05:05I was like, I know, I got nothing.
05:07What do I do?
05:08And he said, it's okay.
05:09We're going to shoot everyone else and we'll shoot you last.
05:12And by then you'll loosen up.
05:14And by then I wasn't loose, man.
05:16I wasn't.
05:17I was freaking out.
05:18It's the scene.
05:19We're in the tent.
05:21And he comes to me.
05:22They do like this special shot around me and everything like that.
05:26I still know I'm not in the pocket.
05:29And he comes to me.
05:30And this is why actors who are directors sometimes are the best.
05:34And he simply says, if you're going to get, if you're going to ask a question, get an
05:39answer and walked away, opened my head up.
05:45You know, my character was debating whether or not I should be able, whether or not people
05:51of color should be able to attend certain universities.
05:54I wanted to be a lawyer.
05:55So I would have to be able to have access to certain universities, right?
05:59It was personal.
06:01Samantha, book with an E.
06:03It's personal for you.
06:04You're fighting for your life.
06:05That's how high the stakes are, is what I realized in him saying, get an answer.
06:11And it just clicks.
06:12And it clicked.
06:12And the take that's in the film now, I get emotional, is the freaking take after he
06:20whispered that in my ear.
06:23Great place to learn, right?
06:24In the hands of Denzel Washington.
06:26That's amazing.
06:28Safe place to fail big.
06:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:30Which is what you need.
06:31Yeah.
06:32Safe place to fail big.
06:33I like that.
06:34Who is Terry?
06:36What is he looking to accomplish in our film The Order?
06:40So Terry Husk is a special agent that I play in the film.
06:45He is he's had a very successful career, but it's taken its toll.
06:55He's carrying war wounds emotionally, physically.
07:00He's he's left behind a marriage, possibly in tatters.
07:06He's had heart surgery and he's drinking too much, not looking after himself.
07:11He's a wreck.
07:12And he's actually initially sort of looking to take it easy and to rebuild his life.
07:17And instead, he lands the biggest job of his life in his back garden.
07:22He's looking to take take it easy and slow it down, you say, right?
07:27Take his foot off the pedal.
07:29And and then once the case develops, he, as of old, becomes obsessive and all in and
07:39passionate to bring this to resolve this case and to bring eventually this this this this
07:45single figure, this fugitive Bob Matthews to justice.
07:48One thing playing her that you took away.
07:54It was such an education process for me.
07:57Um, I knew about the Turner Diaries, but I didn't know really about Bob Matthews and
08:03this this.
08:04Yeah, this.
08:05To read it.
08:06Yeah.
08:07I mean, I know about the Aryan Nation and KKK, you know, these these hate groups, these
08:14domestic terrorists.
08:15But I I didn't know the connection between Bob Matthews and Timothy, Timothy McVeigh.
08:21Right.
08:22That bread, that breadcrumb trail.
08:24Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:25Yeah.
08:26And it's it definitely, you know, unfortunately, the ideology didn't didn't wasn't invented
08:35by Bob Matthews.
08:37This level of bigotry and hatred also didn't die off with him.
08:41No.
08:41And it's only flourished, unfortunately, since then.
08:45And that was one thing we talked a lot about of, you know, a lot of the agents, the special
08:51agents in dealing with him.
08:53The conversation was, well, we don't want to make him a martyr.
08:55We don't want this ideology to flourish and stuff.
08:59And yet here we are.
09:02You know, what one thing did you take away?
09:08I think there was a sense of uncovering in Terry this need to keep finding fuel to keep
09:19going and fight the fight.
09:21And in finding his kind of weariness, it reminded me a little bit, perhaps, of a state of mind
09:27I've been in.
09:28You know, as I've reached middle age, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, I kind of thought we were
09:33all living this great life.
09:34And I thought the world's in a pretty good place, you know, and it's like I took my eye
09:39off of the path.
09:41And suddenly now, and that's where I feel like, oh, we're retiring.
09:45You know, it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
09:47The moral battle is in front of all of us.
09:49The opportunity, right?
09:50And it suddenly kind of invigorated me, too.
09:53It kind of thought, well, if Terry can find that, I can find that.
09:57You know, now's the time to make the right choices.
10:00Now's the time to have those conversations and call people out and, you know, just be
10:04bold.
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