Jude Law Talks New Movie 'Black Sea,' Single Fatherhood And The Trouble With Superman [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]

Jude Law has been mesmerizing audiences with his deep blue eyes for the past two decades and now the two-time Academy Award nominee is plunging into the deep blue sea for his latest underwater thriller Black Sea. Directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald, Black Sea tells the story of a recently fired Royal Navy Captain by the name of Robinson. Hell bent on seeking revenge on those who have wronged him, the former submarine pilot enlists a misfit crew to go in search of a sunken treasure.

MStars News sat down with the 42-year-old British actor to talk about his love of dark characters, the role of fatherhood and the one character he’ll never play.

In the first scene of Black Sea you get fired. Have you ever gotten a pink slip in real life?
Jude Law: Luckily not that any of you know about [Laughs]. I remember sitting in front of a headmaster as a kid and being told that I was making a fool of myself, wanting to be an actor. That sense of someone trying to beat you down, beat down your dreams is quite a vivid memory.

Robinson is a man lost. He loses his job, his wife and his children. Jude as a single father often away from home, did you relate to the character?
One of the beautiful things of the piece and what excited me was how so many of the themes were relevant to all of us nowadays. We all sacrifice our time away from family to do the job that we need to support the family that we want to be with. That dilemma for a man whose job it is to go abroad for nine months of the year can leave you in a really difficult and confusing situation. Equally, I’m sure we all know people who have incredible skill sets that are no longer relevant to a modern society and people that feel like they’re not recognized by the powers that be or they’re being screwed over by the banks or whatever it may be.

Jude did you have a role in developing the script?
Well a huge amount was already on the page. It was just really interesting finessing and adding three dimensions and a backstory, which was so important in getting the nuances of Robinson’s predicament and also the motivation. But it’s very easy when you’re an actor and you’re presented with a really great script and the right part and there were clearly wonderful characters in this drama.

Did you have a personal experience with the sea that you borrowed from to build your character?
I did a play a few years ago written by Eugene O’Neill called Anna Christie. I played an Irish stoker, who like Robinson, spent his life at sea. There was a wonderful gruff, naivety to him. When he meets his woman for the first time he doesn’t really know how to behave because he’s only spent time with his mother or prostitutes. [The play] is about how he learns to love this woman and love women for the first time.

Was it claustrophobic working on such a small set?
We had a very small crew. We shot initially for 10 days on a real submarine and that set the tone and the flavor of the movie. The actors [got] to really experience what it’s like to be in this metal box all day with no natural light and the smell of diesel, or banging your head on metal pipes all day. But it also dictated the style of the shooting because you realize when you’re in these tiny, tiny spaces that you just can’t shoot in the way that you normally would, moving the camera around, moving the actors around. The choices are taken out of your hands in a way. We’re defined by the environment and that’s frustrating initially. But then I realized, slowly, when we went onto set, things felt wrong. They felt artificial. Actually the claustrophobia and the lack of choice was the thing that really worked for a submarine movie, it makes you feel like you’re really in there. It accentuates the claustrophobia and the claustrophobia accentuates the tension. And I think submarine movies are all about tension. The tension of when is it going to go all wrong. Are they going to sink? Are they going to survive?

Jude Law poses wirh director Kevin McDonald at the New York City premiere of 'Black Sea.' (Photo : Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Jude what’s the secret to a successful relationship with the director for you?
What’s the secret? Well there’s not a secret. If you get on, you get on. I’m very keen on working with people who are collaborative rather than dictatorial and I’ve been very lucky in most of the directors, if not all of the directors, I’ve worked with have not been screamers. Harmony and collaboration and vision. It’s nice being led and told, you want to know what film you’re in and how you can help. So clarity, I suppose is a good thing.

Robinson is so sad in this film and I, like many of your fans, like Jude Law light and airy and funny like you were in the 2006 romantic comedy The Holiday opposite Cameron Diaz. Do you gravitate towards grittier characters?
When am I like that? [laughs]. I do one romantic comedy [laughs]. I don’t think I gravitate towards one or the other to be honest. I’m just curious about stuff I haven’t done and types of men I haven’t done, or women even. I just felt with him, there was a curiosity, Kevin reminded me of the play I’d done, Anna Christie, and there was something I’d really enjoyed about that particular character and I was keen to try to find a film like it. I’m not saying, there’s a lot of different things to Robinson then to Matt Burke in that play, but I was kind of curious, as I’d said before about that gruffness and about that sense of an intelligent, pride-filled, working man. A working class guy who has done wrong and looking for his dignity and a man finding his leadership skills. There was wonderful complexity to Robinson.

Is there a character you feel like you haven’t played yet that you’d love to play? Would you do a superhero or something like that?
I’ve never done one.

I though every male actor would want to wear a cape sometime in their career. Not necessarily. I remember my dad always used to say, “If Superman’s so super why is he wearing his pants over his tights?” It used to really annoy me.

I thought every actor in the business today would want to get into a superhero movie.
I think it’s more about franchise and we had a good run with Holmes and Watson and I hope we do more. I’m not chomping at the bit to get involved in any of those. They’re terrific fun. I’m getting a bit old now.

Liam Neeson is still playing an action hero.
That’s true.

You’ve been in this business for over two decades. What’s the most surprising thing about fame?
I think I’m more surprised now that I look back and it’s been such a long period of time. I think that’s been a big surprise. I’ve always been in it for the long haul. To get to that age and still have something to discover looks like a really excited career, rather than in and out and get in and get out like a heist. So I suppose looking back and thinking gosh, it’s been 20 something years.. that’s quite surprising.

Check out the trailer for Black Sea below: