Jude Law was destined for superstardom. Then came Chris Rock’s Oscar monologue.

We can always revisit its peak, though. Although he’d done some film work to that point, most notably in Gattaca, Jude Law emerged fully formed in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, which announced him as the next promising young actor — British, impossibly handsome, with an old-school Hollywood suaveness about him. (Little wonder that, a few years later, he’d play the impeccably dashing Errol Flynn in The Aviator.) When we meet his character Dickie, he’s sunning himself on an Italian beach with his perfectly pretty girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Like Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), we can’t help but gawk. Tanned, smiling, utterly pleased with himself and his wealth, Dickie is a bronzed beauty — he has everything, and Tom wants it all.

The trick, of course, was that Law made you realize that Dickie wasn’t just fabulous cheekbones and cosmopolitan flair — we sensed the rot underneath that flawless physique. Law’s director, English Patient filmmaker Anthony Minghella, hinted at that when he praised him by saying, “He shows this interesting tension between grace and danger. He has extraordinary charisma and lust for life, but he also has cruelty in him.”

The Talented Mr. Ripley was filled with stars — not just Damon and Paltrow but also Philip Seymour Hoffman and an up-and-comer named Cate Blanchett — but because Law wasn’t as famous, we just assumed he was the gorgeous, witty, unattainable creature he played in the movie. Law had earned a Tony nomination a few years earlier, for Indiscretions, but filmgoers weren’t well acquainted with this kid who turned 27 just a couple days after The Talented Mr. Ripley came out. It felt like a discovery. He earned an Oscar nomination for the movie — the only actor in that impressive cast to do so.

He was on his way.

The next few years, Law kept earning accolades. He was a very fun sex robot in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (he had the smooth, inhuman features); appreciably menacing as a vain hitman in Road to Perdition (showing the shades of cruelty that Minghella mentioned); and convincingly romantic as a Civil War soldier coming home to Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain (earning a second Oscar nomination in the process). But by the time of the 2005 Oscars, something got lost. It’s often blamed on his back-to-back 2004 bombs Alfie and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which severely torpedoed his movie-star ascension. I think, though, it went beyond the fact that those films were duds — it’s that they seemed to be indicative of Law’s inability to be anything more than the good-looking, slightly roguish charmer. Was he just a pretty face? Was there any depth there? Those movies weren’t rejected — it was more like audiences rejected him.

Then came Rock’s comments, which pinpointed the intangible that defines movie stars — we either believe they are, or we don’t. And by comparing Law to Cruise, Rock made the contrast between them obvious — and announced it on the most public stage imaginable. Suddenly, we all knew it, too. Once your aura gets taken away, you can’t get it back.

I like several things Law has done since then, but that special glow has faded. The work he’s done post-Rock has largely felt like a reaction to that fleeting golden-god status he once enjoyed. Boyish Brits, complete scoundrels, snooty gents, cocky popes — tellingly, the guys he’s played are often either humbled or indignant because their lives didn’t exactly work out. (And off-screen, his tabloid exploits began to draw more attention than his roles, underlying the idea that he’d squandered his potential.)

Lots of beautiful actors have to work hard to be taken seriously as dramatic performers, but Law made it too easy for naysayers to dismiss him. He still gets good reviews — I haven’t seen The Young Pope, but I imagine he could get a lot of mileage out of a cheeky line like, “I know, I’m incredibly handsome. Please, let’s try to forget about that.” But overall, his career has become a bittersweet acknowledgment that, yes, we used to think so much more highly of Jude Law.

Back in 1999, as The Talented Mr. Ripley was about to change his life, he pondered what made his character so fascinating. “I liked Dickie’s darker side,” Law said, “but there’s also a bravado to him and a kind of boldness that’s enviable. He’s always out doing what he wants to do and expects that everyone else is doing the same. That’s enviable but painful, too. He’s selfish.”

Watching the movie now is additionally poignant. Back then, Jude Law seemed like Dickie — a vibrant, carefree young man luxuriating in his own effortless gorgeousness. Today, though, the film is a passing glimpse of a star with everything in front of him, the quick descent just around the corner. Dickie is doomed in The Talented Mr. Ripley — he has no idea what’s coming. Law didn’t, either.

It’s rare to realize in real time that you’re witnessing the moment that signifies that an actor is over.**

This seems like a comic monologue that didn't affect Jude Law in the slightest.

Blah blah blah.

He's a character actor. And better off that way.

R5 I don’t see why he couldn’t be both a la Brad Pitt. I rewatched The Holiday and he was so charming in that movie.

Jude probably supported Will’s slap.

Brad Pitt is neither an actor not a character actor.

He's a movie star. That's different.

I'm sorry but that bit was hilarious.

Jude was like Colin Farrell. Hot for one minute, then gone.

Jude Law knows very well why his career and attention faded. He's very lucky those cases never came to light.

Law broke through with The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999. He did several films and got Oscar-nominated once more for Cold Mountain in 2003, as well as a lone Globe nod for A.I. in 2001. Not once up until then did any of the big critic groups (NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC, Boston) cite one of his performances, nor did any major film festivals.

All of his leading men roles underperformed at the box-office. Enemy at the Gates didn't make its budget back domestically. Cold Mountain made just a little bit back beyond its budget domestically and suffered backlash at the Oscars after a string of bad press. Closer made its budget back domestically, but most anyone was talking about Natalie Portman over the rest of the cast. I Heart Huckabee's underperformed.

The Alfie remake, which relied solely on Law's shoulders, flopped big-time in 2004. This was following Sky Captain and the World Tomorrow with him as the male lead (which was a flop).

The speech was in February 2005. How exactly did it change anything? Maybe Law just didn't have what it took to be a leading man. Otherwise, audiences would have bit. All the King's Men, the film which Penn was working with Law on at the time, ended up being a huge turkey.

He's a good actor though. I think the writer was trolling (RE: Chris Rock Oscar speeches).

R12 But it’s clear he had what it took to be a leading man when you watch him in something like The Holiday. Whenever people talk about The Talented Mr. Ripley they mostly talk about Jude Law, and he dies an hour into the movie. Talk about an impact.

Jude Law and his several kids must've let out a whoop of delight when Will Smith slapped the black off Chris Rock's face.

I ruined Jude’s career for reasons known to him.

I’m not that passionate about Matt Damon but I think he gives the best performance in Ripley.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Will and/or Jada is somehow behind this article?

R17 The article is two years old.

R2 wrote it better.

And R8 is correct to bring up Brad Pitt. His ascent was more "organic" compared to Law's (which was more forced). Pitt displayed a natural charisma in Thelma & Louise, which got him plenty of notices and Hollywood decided to turn him into a star. And it worked. One year later, A River Runs Through It was a hit. Two years later, he had a double-whammy with Legends of the Fall/Interview with a Vampyre. Interview was a hit in part to Rice, Cruise, and director Neil Jordan for putting it all together, but Pitt added to the mix as well, and he surely got the lion's share of credit for Legends. The hits just kept coming. Certainly, he faltered, but would always come back, because audiences wanted to watch him. He was a movie-star.

Law was kind of more manufactured by Harvey Weinstein (kind of like Gwyneth Paltrow). He bankrolled Anthony Mingella's films (and a couple of other films Law did) which largely shaped Law and he was able to benefit for the epic scope of the director's vision that the audience came to see. Otherwise, audiences just weren't as interested in Law. And their interest in Paltrow dropped off as well.

Just because you are the most memorable role in a film doesn't mean you are leading man material.

Law has always had a vague resemblance to a Kewpie doll. He's great as a character actor, though.

R18 Oh so Jada is OP and that is why a 2 year old article is being posted on DL. Got it y'all carry on.

R21 No, I posted it because I’ve been rewatching some old Jude Law films and thought it would inspire an interesting discussion.

There's a logical flaw in the premise of Rock's smug bullying takedown. If there's only four main stars, that leaves a lot of room in the plentiful amount of product made for (in Rock's snobbish terms) non-stars. Those four big stars to whom Rock defers can't be in every film for him to worship.

Thus in effect Rock is disrespecting not only his focal bullying target Law, but every other actor he deems unworthy of his Pantheon. It's a deeply stupid riff which dismisses the huge talent of 'non-stars', most of whom are greatly more watchable than Cruise and Eastwood.

I don't specially like Law, and doubtless Rock had his ulterior motives in singling him out. But the hierarchical premise of his unfunny shaming routine just seems juvenile and dim.

That was a shitty thing for Rock to do.

R1, That Sky Captain movie was shit. I saw that and was so bored. I saw Alfie and kind of liked it. The other bad film was I heart Huckabees where Lily Tomlin ranted about the director. That sucked.

Jude Law was beautiful but he made some duds and started going bald. Pfft Career done.

Law was lovely fey and wicked playing the pope.

No leading man or leading-man type could have done that, except for perhaps Rufus Sewell.

How can you hate Sky Captain?

Bai Ling!

BAI LING! She was on the roof and we couldn't get her down!

Also, the creepy reanimated corpse of Laurence Olivier! Even creepier than Paltrow as the "love" interest.

Olivier-- even death couldn't stop him.

Always outclassing all the other creeps.

Oh, yeah: Angelina Jolie was in this movie.

I thought his career was wrecked by all his mad shagging in Primrose Hill.

I remember that time. Jude Law was really primed to be the next big thing. 2004 was his empire year. And he failed. And I remember thinking how he had 5 - 6 movies come out and none of them really did anything for him. And I'm sure I wasn't the only one. So, in essence, Rock was making light of that.

But, it's funny how people are bagging on Chris Rock, who--in no way, shape, or form--is as ruthless as Ricky Gervais is.

The problem is there aren't enough good roles in good films to give actors enough chances to show what they can do. There's nothing to do in a superhero film except cater to the effects.

In some ways, the studio system forcing actors into 80 films a year was better.

"Dickie is doomed in The Talented Mr. Ripley — he has no idea what’s coming. Law didn’t, either." Ugh. Doomed to what? The life of an actor who has never stopped getting offers to be in great movies and TV shows? For millions per year? Poor guy.

This isn't an article. It's not a quality analysis. It's just thinkpiece garbage. Jude Law did exactly what he was supposed to do. Work with great directors on quality movies. He did it. He's still doing it. He just didn't sell tickets. America wasn't looking for another Peter O'Toole or Michael Caine to be a superstar.

What exactly have we missed out on? Ten or twelve shitty giant studio movies, including a few forgettable Bruckheimer programmers?

Just because you disagree with it doesn't mean it's garbage, r31.

I'm just so tired of this wholesale juvenile whining on Datalounge. No one can just say they don't care for an actor or disagree with an article of whatever. It's never "I disagree, and here's why" but "this isn't even an article, it's garbage." And then you have the nerve to say the article "isn't quality analysis."

I don't like Jude Law in his role as the Dickie.

OP, I see the point of your thread. I fail to understand its significance.

In the hysteria over the Will Smith smack, a few of us tried to mention how rotten Chris Rock's comments have been in the past, the weirdly personal attacks he'd made on people for seemingly no reason, and how I'd bet a lot of people in Hollywood remember it more than you and I would and reacted accordingly on Oscar night. If you're still thinking about that time Sean Penn had to get up and defend Jude Law in his acceptance speech because Chris Rock got a bee in his butt about Jude Law for no fucking reason, you're going to be a lot less shocked about Smith freaking out than the rest of us were.

Not that Smith was justified. Don't come at me with any "stop justifying violence" sobbing, you'd just be wasting our time. He wasn't justified. But Chris Rock is an asshole on purpose and we're all adults who know enough about life to know that, sometimes, an asshole will pick on a crazy person and get a crazy response in return.

[quote]Chris Rock got a bee in his butt about Jude Law for no fucking reason

Either you were too young and/or weren't following the haps in Hollywood at the time. You're trying to paint Chris Rock as this awful super villain based on a hair joke about Jada Pinkett and a Jude Law monologue from 2005 which accurately describe the state of his career.

I'm with R34. I fail to see the significance. Again, Ricky Gervais took plenty more and much more cruel shots at celebrities (some were funny, some weren't).

You trying to force this discussion is like Harvey tried to force Jude Law on cinema-going audiences.

Also, Rock specifically choosing Jude Law at that time was significant as it reflected the state of opportunities for different races.

You would not see an Asian or black actor getting the number of chances Law did to become a huge star. Not in early 2000s. The fact was he was a character actor, not a leading man. Yet, Hollywood kept trying to make him happen as a leading man. How har is that to comprehend?

It's the same with Gwyneth Paltrow. There wasn't one Asian or black female actor who got the chances she got.

A lot of people hate on Gwyneth, and for good reason, but I think she’s a good actress especially back then. Certainly better than the bland nepotism babies of today.

[quote] I don't like Jude Law in his role as the Dickie

It’s one of my favorite performances of all time. He was perfect. His subtle expression when trying to figure out Tom in a scene was excellent and being nice but still blowing off Tom in the record store was spot on. I find him very talented. I just caught Road to Perdition the other day and he was great in the small roll he had.

Also, he was a golden god.

Perhaps Jude Law has had exactly the kind of career he wanted to have and was never particularly interested in becoming a huge movie star celebrity.

Brad Pitt is a big star, but even he wasn't huge in the Tom Cruise way.

Jude Law’s tragic receding hairline wrecked his career.

He was gorgeous at his peak. But a little too short, I think.

Jude Law ruined his career taking any role he could get his hands on. He lost a lot of money divorcing Sadie Frost, and he was desperate to regain his losses while he was still in demand. Instead of playing it smart, he just did the roles for the paycheck. He sold out, and that's what Chris Rock made fun of. Overexposure and a string of flops ruined his career.

Uncut. Smell worse than rotten bleu cheese.

Every actor in Hollywood has been dressed down in the casting process for not being famous enough at some point in their career, and moviemakers/executives in the audience are the ones who make these kind of judgements. Part of the unseen part of Hollywood which Rock tackily exposed.

Conversations are also had about an actor’s age, looks, talent, fuckability… much like on here… but they happen behind closed doors, not onstage at the Academy Awards.

Too not American too average looking and too trashy. Didn’t he bang the nanny?

And too sensitive, as this article demonstrates.

Too bad.

There was an uncomfortable racial element to it as well that people probably picked up on… in the Old South there was a tradition called the cakewalk, where slaves would perform and lampoon their masters’ for their masters’ entertainment. Rock played up on elements… in his comparison he choose two other white actors, Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise. So it was kind of a dressing down of whiteness… which is not going to be well received at the Oscars.

He took on two roles that were, to me, a bit like art imitating life. Dicky in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Jerome in Gattica. Both characters were stunningly perfect, rich, elegant, high class pretty boys. I'm sure a lot of people, not given his opportunities, were resentful of Jude's 'presumed' privilege.

Jude Law was sexy when young, but he can still put the Law on me anytime. ;-)

He fucked the nanny. Women remember that shit and it spoils their heart throb fantasies. Movie Stars are actors we fantasize about being with in real life. His behavior broke the illusion.

Ripley may have been his first big role but he was in a few things before that too, including that awful version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, playing a hustler that sleeps with - and may have been murdered by - Kevin Spacey.

Weird hairline and thin, pasty lips. Gawky and too thin. Has a Resting Bitch Face and no discernible bulge. Can’t visualize having sex with him, would be like doing it with a coat rack.

In "Anna Karenina", besides Aaron Taylor-Johnson's inspired choice to play Vronsky as the most beautiful block of wood ever, Law was runner-up as the best thing in that film.

As Karenin, he was mesmerizing, subtle, quiet, but you could see the fury, disbelief and heartache right beneath the surface of his face.

[quote]Weird hairline and thin, pasty lips. Gawky and too thin. Has a Resting Bitch Face and no discernible bulge. Can’t visualize having sex with him, would be like doing it with a coat rack.

We get it, Chris, you're really not into Jude.

I did a days work on closer and he was supposed to film but didn't. He was basically at the Oscar's the night before in LA and missed his flight back to London. Clive Owen in particular was very pissed.

r27, I remember being so high on Jude Law around this time. And couldn't wait to see Sky Captain. I remember being disappointed but nothing else about the movie. I can't remember jack about it.

[quote]Gawky and too thin

How on Earth did Michael Caine win the Oscar that year? Jude Law or Haley Joel Osment should have won.

Who IS this Chris Rock person? I don’t think I had ever heard of him before he got in Will Smith’s way the other day and now I learn he was being rude to get the laughs long before that.

I may need to just slouch back into my cave. I’m certainly not going to google his name or see if his fame extends so far as to have resulted in YouTube videos. I’m sick of his contribution to the decline and fall of civilization already!

R58 Harvey Weinstein favored The Cider House Rules over his other production, Ripley

CHR got seven Oscar nominations including picture and director. Its largely forgotten today.

1999 had some excellent pictures which were snubbed for BP - Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, Being John Malkovich, Election, The Matrix, Eyes Wide Shut, The End of the Affair, Fight Club, All About My Mother

[quote] He was gorgeous at his peak. But a little too short, I think.

Height doesn't seem to be an issue for men actors / movie stars (Cruise, Stallone, etc.).

I do think he has a gorgeous face. Lips a bit thin. Hair, could be managed easily (hairpieces, transplants, etc.).

Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes is more brutal than Rock at the Academy Awards. IMO, Hollywood & the Oscars ceremony take themselves entirely too damn seriously and I love seeing these actors getting taken down a notch. Leo DiCaprio has been roasted and takes it.

Law's career may have leveled out, anyway. How can any actor sustain 6 movies out at the same time?

I also remember him breaking up with Sienna Miller & having a relationship with the nanny. I'm sure that didn't help matters for a heartthrob.

Almost everyone knows who he is.

That qualifies as some level of stardom.

[quote] Sean Penn’s introductory remarks when he came out later to present Best Actress, awkwardly defending his All the King’s Men costar.

So glad I bailed on that film! Mamie, who ended up with the part? Can you check the IDMB thing?

[quote][R2] wrote it better.

Isn’t R2 just the conclusion of the article? R2 did not interview Jude Law and write that.

R66, lol, there you go.

The only relevant part of article.

And completely void of Chris Rock’s “impact” on Law.

[quote]Jude Law’s tragic receding hairline wrecked his career.

When I saw this thread, that's what I thought: Jude Law was Destined for Stardom - Then His Hair Fell Out!

A lot of very good reasons on this thread. Also, in Rock's defense, that crack - while admittedly kind of mean - came at a time when they were trying to make the Oscars more hip & edgy, attract the kids & all that. And let's face it, it's easier to poke fun at someone who is wildly successful - everything is going their way so they can roll with it. I also wonder to the extent that Law's messy personal life kind of eclipsed his stardom - he become more of a tabloid fixture as opposed to someone you wanted to see in a movie.

I actually think he's quite good as a character actor & it kind of shows if a talented, if kind of exposed actor can go back to indies & small roles, he/she can rebuild their career. With beard & paunch, I think he's hotter than ever. And he got married & stopped (at least publicly) acting like a fool.

Chris Rock will be remembered and celebrated long after Jude Law is retired. Chris Rock is a LOT more important than his two time Oscar stint.

Aside from the affair with the nanny, has he been caught in other scandals as suggested in some of the above posts? Does he have friends in Hollywood/Broadway? Well liked?

I don't know if it's considered a scandal, but there are some pap shots of him naked while changing clothes.

His daughter accidentally swallowed an Ecstasy pill as a child (while at a party at Kate Moss's house, I believe). I think she was 2 and had to be rushed to the hospital. That also called into question his messy personal life and marriage to Sadie Frost.

This article is absurd. And if you measure talent by 'star power', well, you get what you fucking deserve, people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Scientology Cruise, neither of whom I ever watch in a film. I fucking love Jude Law.

This is hilarious. THIS is his #metoo?!?!

He's a victim, give him his due.

R74 how a victim?

You're talking Law and not Rock, right?

[quote]Aside from the affair with the nanny, has he been caught in other scandals as suggested in some of the above posts? Does he have friends in Hollywood/Broadway? Well liked?

On one thread, some DL said they did coke in a nightclub with Jude & Sadie back in the day; who knows if that was true and certainly lots of people do coke whether they're celebrities or not, but maybe at some point he started to fall under "more trouble than they're worth"

That said, some other DLer posted that he saw him in stage in London & his performance was amazing, so he does have real talent to have lasted as long as he has

I was a faggot in a Jude Law film once. A sociopathic one at that

R75, this is Law's battle cry of victimhood, "Rock decried me. Derailed my career," not his lisp, philandering, wooden affect, or bald head.

Every narcissistic, pretty mediocre actor in Hollywood right now is riding the victim train to explain away their failed career and it's a shame.

[quote] There's a logical flaw in the premise of Rock's smug bullying takedown.

It was a JOKE, you humorless fucking crybaby.

He was great in A.I., then his hair fell out and couldn't figure out how to use a condom. Chris Rock was correct to bury him