Jude Law Stalked Nicholas Hoult to Prep for New Film

Director Justin Kurzel asked Jude Law to go to extremes as they prepped to shoot an upcoming crime thriller, including following co-star Nicholas Hoult without his knowledge and making a dossier on what he saw.

Law and Hoult co-star in Kurzel’s film The Order, based around the story of FBI agent Terry Husk (played by Law) investigating a white supremacy group lead by Bob Matthews, played by Hoult. According a Los Angeles Times interview published Wednesday, Kurzel gives actors “little manifestos” with instructions to help them dive deeper into their characters. For Law, that meant going on a stake out and following Hoult for a day without letting Hoult see him.

“I found it very rewarding.” Law told the Times of the prep work. “It’s symbolic of the kind of director he is, how he builds the relationship with the actor and ultimately the character, and how he can then use that on the set. There was such an intuitive sense between the two of us of who Husk was by the time we started to film.”

Hoult opened up about the challenge of playing Mattthews, the a white supremacist who died in a shootout with law enforcement in 1984. He recalled one scene in particular at a rally with several other white nationalists.

“I remember that scene distinctly because it was the first time it felt scary,” Hoult said. “The power of it, because it felt fairly real in an odd way. There was something there where we were all a little bit shook up by that because we hadn’t done anything of that nature in the shooting until then. So it was suddenly something where you’re like, ‘This is kind of beyond us in a way.’”

The Order debuted earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival and will make its theatrical release on Dec. 6.

Law’s had a busy 2024 and also starred in Ron Howard’s Eden alongside Ana de Armas and Sydney Sweeney. He’s also featured in the upcoming TV series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which hits Disney+ on Dec. 2.

Hoult, who previously starred in 2023’s Renfield, has had his hands full as well. The actor is co-starring in his second vampire flick, Nosferatu, which will release on Christmas.