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Heroes aren't what they used to be. Just ask Jude Law. That's exactly why the British heartthrob was drawn to "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," an unlikely action flick that turns back the clock some 70 years while most of Hollywood is pushing into a CGI-powered tomorrow. "Sky Captain" — which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Giovanni Ribisi — has loads of special effects, but at its heart is Joe Sullivan, a classic, square-jawed, stand-up guy who spends considerable time protecting the world's skies from the forces of evil. It's old-school all right, which is exactly why Law signed on, as he recently explained to MTV Radio's Curtis Waller.
MTV: So let's start with your character — you are Sky Captain.
Law:: [Mock-seriously] I AM SKY CAPTAIN!
MTV: [Laughing] Let's talk about what attracted you to the role.
Law: I was first approached by [writer/director] Kerry Conran and [producer] John Avnet. They had wanted me to watch the six-minute teaser that Kerry had put together on his Mac, and they showed me this incredible footage that I couldn't quite work out whether it was old footage from 1930 or 1940, or quite how he had done it. He explained it was all done on this [computer] program he created.
He had written this fantastic script, and at the heart was Joe Sullivan, who is a good, old-fashioned kind of comic-book hero. He's your square-jawed, have your breakfast, save the world, go to bed [kind of hero], and that tone goes throughout the film. That attracted me to produce and be in it. Perhaps it was a challenge, because [Conran] was a first-time director and a lot of people thought that putting ourselves in front of a blue screen for the entirety of the film, in the hands of a guy who had never made a movie before [was a risk], but we all felt like it was a certainty that he was going to pull it off.
MTV: What's it like working with a blue screen behind you, yet having to improvise?
Law: Kerry was really clear from the get-go what he would be able to do with our footage. He was gonna create the entire world: He knew how it was going to look, he showed us the imagery and inspirations so that we had a clear-ish picture in our heads. We were totally stepping into a world of make-believe, and in a way, it made it a little bit easier. He wanted us to feel as comfortable as we could, so we were allowed to play with it a lot, And I think a lot of the relationship, the humor, between Angie [Angelina Jolie] and Gwyneth and me, comes from the banter that we created on set. It was like being back in a playground.
MTV: How was it working with Gwyneth?
Law: Gwyneth and I met five years ago on "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and we got on incredibly well and have remained friends. When I came on board "Sky Captain" as a producer, I was really, really keen on getting her to do it. I knew she would look phenomenal in this period and she does — I mean, she could play pretty much anything, but I thought this role would suit her to the ground. She's tough, she's very intelligent, she's sexy, she's sassy. And because she was a good friend and a consummate actress, it was kind of cool that we could create a rapport immediately, and the same with Angie. I've known Angie some 10 years, and we'd never worked together, but I pulled in a favor there. Giovanni [Ribisi] I had worked with on "Cold Mountain," so it was a lot of favors and luckily, everyone got it as passionately as I did.
MTV: What was it like producing the film as well as acting in it?
Law: I'm not one of these actors who wants to get a producer credit every time I'm in a movie. I was asked to join the production team because I think they knew I kind of understood the inspiration behind it. I was a big fan of the "Metropolis"/ Orson Welles imagery that he was trying to create, and I felt confident to have an opinion as a producer because it was stuff I felt I knew something about. It was a kind of shoestring production at first, and I felt that perhaps for the first time in my career, my name was able to get this thing going. It was an amazing sense of pride when that happens. The irony is that now it's become this kind of big movie and they're showing it in Times Square — it's turned into this monster, which is kind of scary, to be honest.
MTV: How did Laurence Olivier come in as a character after his death?
Law: Without giving too much away, we wanted to find a knight of the British film industry or the world of theater to play [the villain] Dr. Totenkopf. A lot of these guys have been in this sort of movie: Ian McKellen has been in "X-Men" and "Lord of the Rings" and Ian Holm was in "Lord of the Rings" and Ben Kingsley just did "Thunderbirds." Because of the twist at the end of the plot, I thought it would be fun to get the grandest of all knights of the British theater, and that was Laurence Olivier. Because he only appears as a hologram, it kind of made it all right that he was deceased. And I kind of like the fact that a younger generation will be introduced to Sir Laurence Olivier: He was a big hero to me when I was a kid and I always wanted to work with him. It was a kind of dream come true seeing myself onscreen with Laurence Olivier.
MTV: "Sky Captain" is a period sci-fi piece. What period do you most like to act in?
Law: The period of "Sky Captain." I like doing '30s movies. I love the look and the films of that period and the movie stars of that period — Errol Flynn and Cary Grant. I think they were gentlemen and the actresses were somehow all intelligent and beautiful. That's a very sexy combination. I am kind of happy living life today, because I have the advantage of having to go back to work and pretend I'm there.
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Photo: Paramount
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