Taking its cues from the gritty 1970s crime thrillers of Sydney Lumet and perhaps drawing some influence from recent dramas about little-known historical events ala “BlackKklansman” or even “Judas and the Messiah,” the crime drama, “The Order,” is the latest film from Aussie director Justin Kurzel (“Macbeth,” “Nitram”).
Starring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan, the film centers on a lone FBI agent (Law) who begins to believe that a series of bank robberies and car heists frightening communities in the Pacific Northwest are the work of a dangerous domestic terrorist and white supremacist group.
READ MORE: Justin Kurzel Talks’ The Order,’ Working With Jude Law, Future Projects With Jacob Elordi & More [Interview]
With the help of a young local cop (Sheridan), the agent begins to track and get closer to discovering their charming leader (Hoult).
CO-starring the excellent ensemble cast of Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver, Marc Maron, Odessa Young and more, “The Order” is a searing, patient and gripping drama, leaving much for the intelligent viewer to intuit. Beyond its political relevancy to January 6 (which influenced the movie) and the rise of white nationalism across the world, but especially in America, it’s also a film about family and community, albeit not the best ones for you.
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We spoke to Jude Law a few weeks before the film came out to discuss its many themes, its terrific, nuanced use of ambiguity, his recent foray into franchise work with Marvel and “Star Wars,” and much more.
I have to make note of seeing it post-election, which changes things; at least, it did for me, in my experience. I think it is a really chilling and powerful work. I’m a big fan of Justin’s work as well. Tell me about getting involved.
It just was so full of potential as a script, and I really like the way it took a true event, a historical event that had shone a light on a movement that has grown and grown and become a sort of global issue in current times. And it didn’t spoon-feed you. It was also wrapped up in a genre. It was wrapped in a film that I saw the possibility, the potential, for it to be thrilling to watch.
It reminded me of films I grew up watching and loving in the ’80s and films from the ’70s, even though I felt like they were real crowd-pleasers back then. And then within that was this incredible role that I was fortunate enough to have with that it was with [screenwriter] Zach [Baylin] and Justin, collaborators who let me lean in and evolve this character to add more complexity, depth, and backstory.
From when you probably first read this script to now that it’s made, it’s probably been a long time, and its relevance has grown. The global thing that we see rising. What was it like to watch that? To me, it becomes even more and more relevant.
It’s chilling, really saddening, and therefore all the more useful because it’s not a film that judges folk, and it doesn’t sort of point blame, but it looks at community and society and why people are forced sometimes to make these sorts of decisions, what kind of people attract them, and then maybe how we can best heal that and solve it.
I don’t know that it’s got an answer, right? I think demonizing is an easy way out, rather than understanding, because it’s something that’s been going on around the world for many, many years. It’s a canker of our society, a global society, this need to to blame, to hate others, to divide.
I love how the movie suggests and never spoon-feeds. Your character has nosebleeds, a chest scar that we can intuit, maybe heart surgery, but it’s never spelled out. Was that from the script or collaboration?
I don’t even remember what came first because it was such a healthy collaboration. But Zach Bailyn, the writer, and Justin Kurzel, the director, and I were keen to, as I said, evolve this role. We didn’t want to lean on any of the real agents from the time because it felt we didn’t want to be distasteful and take them in a direction that wasn’t respectful to them. So we created him ourselves, inspired by other agents we spoke to and books that we’d read about agents at the time so that we could build a very plausible backstory and a career.
The health issues came up because we were all keen that he was carrying the cost of the career he’d been sent there. I love the idea that he was sent there to semi-retire and take it easy, and he landed the biggest job of his life, right? It’s right there in front of him, and this question of whether he can actually do it. I love that tension, especially because he’s up against something so formidable. There is also the contrast between Matthews [Nicholas Hoult’s white supremacist leader character], who he knew was a clean living, no drinking, no smoking, and a great outdoorsman. And when they meet, I love the idea that, in fact, he is underestimated.
Matthew underestimates him because he looks like this broken guy. So all of that was there, and we threw in different ideas. And again, this is where Justin is so nuanced and clever as a director; he didn’t want to lean onto any of that too heavily. So everything just became a suggestion. Nothing needed explaining—the same with the broken family. We discussed the idea of having many more phone calls or messages from the family. And in the end, less is more. It felt it was just important that you get a sense that something’s gone on. And sometimes, in storytelling, what you don’t say allows the audience to fill in themselves. And that becomes a better way of adding detail than if we spell it out.
Family and community are additional great themes I didn’t expect, even if those families are corrosive.
This is something that Justin does thematically in his films, and we touched on it a little bit. But you know, family, and who is the person in the family, and what does family mean to them? So you have Jamie’s family, which is full of love, this innocent young family with a home built for a family. You have an abundant toxic family around Bob Matthews, where he has the duplicity of having two wives and one child here and another child there, and they’re handing guns to kids.
And it just doesn’t feel honest. It’s built on lies, manipulation, and dishonesty. You have Carney [Jurnee Smollett’s character], who, as a Black woman, has a career, and she’s obviously made a decision not to have a family, or she doesn’t mention it because she’s going to probably have to work twice as hard as anyone else because as a woman, and as a Black woman in the bureau, probably having to prove herself.
It’s interesting to see you in some of the new surprises of your career with Marvel and “Star Wars.” It’s like you’ve earned all your Academy Award nominations, and we know you can do the serious drama, but this is a side of you we haven’t seen before.
Yeah, that’s true. I’m always curious to try different things, especially with something like [‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’]. I grew up watching those films as a kid, and they were a big part of my love affair with cinema. Who wasn’t blown away by that film in the ’70s? And I love this idea that John Watts had that, you know, the child I was that fell in love with that film added the awe and the pixie dust of magic around it. And he’s made the protagonists in this kids, so you get that awe and jeopardy of being a child in the world. And it’s just such a simple but clever twist. I hope people take it. It was a lot of fun making it.
Are we going to see your character in the ‘Star Wars’ universe beyond this?
I don’t know. That’s up to them. I guess if it takes off, maybe. I don’t know. I hope so. He was a lot of fun to play.
You can read more about Law’s thoughts on “Star Wars,” Marvel and the still-brewing “Sherlock Holmes 3” here.
“The Order” opens in limited release on December 6 via Vertical.