Jude Law
January 16, 2000
By Cindy Pearlman

Hey, Jude.

Actor Jude Law achieves hunk-of-the-month status with a star turn in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and the spoils of playing the spoiled Dickie Greenleaf might be a Golden Globe Award next weekend for best supporting actor.

Q. So they painted Matt Damon with pasty gray makeup for the beach scenes in “Ripley,” but you were bronzed. Does this seem fair?

A. (Laughing.) Yeah, Matt wasn’t allowed in the sun at all. I was also eating pasta and pizza. Matt was on this big diet. Life is never fair.

Q. Did you feel a little bit bad?

A. I remember one morning in Italy when Matt was up at 5 a.m. I found him sweating it out on the treadmill. I waltzed into the gym and grabbed a few handweights to bulk myself up a bit. Feel bad for me, too. I have these scrawny European arms.

Q. You must be excited. “Ripley” is your breakout role.

A. I suppose I’m waiting to see the response. I loved the movie, but then again, I always love my movies. But breakout role? We’ll see. When I did “Gattaca,” I thought, “God, this is going to be huge.” I’m still waiting for that one to happen.

Q. Are you mentally prepared to become one of those “It” guys?

A. I’ve never wanted fame. I’m an actor because I enjoy acting. And it has been that way since I started at age 7. My parents were acting teachers who ran a theater company on and off in Italy. So they taught me to take it very seriously.

Q. How did you start?

A. I started acting through this youth theater company. We used to improvise stuff and take it on holiday to festivals. It helped that I was a dramatic little kid. I was always putting shows on. Drama city.

Q. Speaking of drama city, tell us about your scene in “Ripley” in a rowboat with Damon.

A. It was fun. The tough part is that Matt and I would crawl to one side of the raft and start to struggle. Then all of a sudden, we would realize that we were tipping the boat over, which was not in the script, or safe.

Q. Did you get hurt?

A. I ended up with a broken rib. I fell backward and broke it. And Matt lost his voice because I strangled him so hard. We were all covered in gooey blood. We really got into it. The other bad thing is that there was this infestation of wasps on the island near where we were filming. So we were under attack on top of everything else.

Q. Tell us about your nude scene in “Ripley.” Say whatever you want to say about it in 50 words or less, and thanks in advance.

A. I didn’t have any trepidation about it. I’ve been naked in plays. Seriously, I’m not a great fan of doing love scenes. I don’t like seeing naked bodies rolling around. But I do think nudity to a degree can add dramatic tension. In Ripley, I must get out of a tub. I can’t be wearing swimming trunks. I mean, please!

Q. And finally, the mere mention of your name these days makes women drool.

A. It’s basically something I can’t think about or I’ll be doomed to spending two hours in the mirror before I get out of the house. And my wife and sons will kill me.