Jude Law has admitted he has big regrets surrounding one of his career choices in the 2000s, calling it “a bad move”.
The actor, who has been nominated for Oscars for his work in The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain, spoke in a new interview about “kicking himself” over his decision to take the lead role in the 2004 romcom Alfie.
In the movie, which was a remake of the 1966 version with Michael Caine, Law starred as an east end womaniser, who exploits his job as a limo driver to sleep with attractive women. It was a box office flop, and critically panned, with The Independent calling it “laboured and implausible” at the time.
Speaking to GQ, the 51-year-old said: “I was in a really strong position [at that time] because I’d just had another [Oscar] nomination on the back of Cold Mountain, and for Alfie to be the film I chose to do quite soon after that, I think was a bad move.”
He explained that when saw an early screening, his heart sank as he’d hoped the film would be grittier and more meaningful.
“I just felt it hadn’t elevated [the material] and felt a little light, a little too cheesy,” he said.
“I think it was made for too much money, and I was probably paid too much money, which I underestimated at the time. I kicked myself that I’d done something that was leaning into the heartthrob and the charismatic lead and it hadn’t worked.”
Law added that the response to the film knocked his confidence.
“Everyone has hits, everyone has flops. But yes, I think it did. It also made me aware that, when you are fresh out of the gate, everyone is intrigued and everyone wants a piece of you.
“And then as soon as you have a couple of misfires, their attention goes elsewhere. And so there’s a part of you also thinking, ‘Oh, OK, how do I get that attention back?’”
Law met Sienna Miller on the set of Alfie, with the actor playing one of his love interests, Nikki. The pair were together for a couple of years, splitting up when Law had an affair with his children’s nanny.
Miller has said the media frenzy while she was dating Jude Law became “insidious and difficult”.
Law can next be seen in The Order, a thriller about a white supremacist terror group in 1980s Idaho, alongside Nicholas Hoult. The film, which received a huge standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival this year, is being released in the US in December, with Prime Video overseeing its international release.
