Jude Law has come clean about how it felt to star in a critical and commercial flop off the back of his Academy Award-nominated appearance in Cold Mountain.
Anthony Minghella’s epic period war drama Cold Mountain, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Charles Frazier, was blessed with six Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Law’s portrayal of William ‘W. P.’ Inman and Renée Zellweger for Best Supporting Actress.
After losing the gong to Sean Penn in 2003, the Talented Mr. Ripley favorite had all eyes on him as he entered into an extremely fruitful 2004.
Jude Law has admitted he's 'kicking himself' over a role he had in 2004 (Corey Nickols/Getty Images for IMDb)
First, he starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow before appearing in the romantic drama Closer and playing a supporting role in The Aviator.
From the outside, it would appear that Law had success after success twenty years ago, but this seems not to be the case.
In a new interview, the 51-year-old actor has complained that he regards another of his 2004 outputs as a ‘bad move’ - admitting he regrets taking it on ‘quite soon’ after his Academy Award nomination.
The film which the father-of-seven has described as being ‘a little too cheesy’ is Alfie - a rom-com based on the 1963 stage play of the same name. Watch the trailer below:
Starring Law as the titular character, Alfie failed to set the world alight, only grossing $13,399,812 at the US box office and $21,750,734 in other countries worldwide.
Considering the movie had a budget of $60 million, it was considered a flop and unfortunately, the ratings aren’t much better.
The project has a 48 percent rating from critics on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, while Letterboxd users have given it a measly 2.7 stars out of five.
Reflecting on Alfie in an interview with GQ, Law said he was in a ‘really strong position’ at the time he took on the role of the sex-addicted limo driver.
“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.
“I think it was made for too much money, and I was probably paid too much money, which I underestimated at the time.
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The actor revealed he thought Aflie was too 'cheesy' (Paramount Pictures)
“I kicked myself that I’d done something that was leaning into the heartthrob and the charismatic lead and it hadn’t worked,” he continued. “Everyone has hits, everyone has flops. But yes, I think it did [knock my confidence].”
Law added that it made him ‘aware’ that a couple of misfires in Hollywood means you can sometimes be out on your own.
“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?’.”
English (US) ·