Jude Law keeps cool as acting career heats up

LONDON -- Jude Law sits back, taps the pack of Marlboros that goes unsmoked by his side, and flashes the infectious smile that has an entire industry at his feet.

True, he lost last year's supporting actor Oscar to Michael Caine, but even that was a victory of sorts The film veteran paid specific tribute in his acceptance speech to Law's rapidly rising star.

"I would rather have listened to that speech than win, to be honest," Law says, his long legs stretched across an adjacent chair in a north London "gastropub" minutes from his Primrose Hill home. "I think to win would have been a little bit too much -- too much, too soon."

And yet, suddenly, people can't get enough of Law, who has been acting professionally for 12 years but only recently hit paydirt.

In part, that's to do with his looks -- the chiseled face blessed with cheekbones that "you could open an envelope with," as his actor-friend Sean Pertwee has remarked.

It helps that he's got talent, too, including a facility for accents and for sliding up and down the social scale to play classy or crass, posh or punk.

Law's breakout role was in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," as Dickie Greenleaf, the moneyed American layabout whose killer features, and tan to match, could drive someone to murder.

Of his movies, "'Ripley' was the first film a lot of people went to see," says the 28-year-old Law, who in his generation is rivaled perhaps only by American actor Billy Crudup for sustained excellence in films that virtually nobody has seen.

"People say, 'Why did your career change? Why did your life change?' Well, because 200 million people went to see the movie," Law says, tucking into his split pea soup.

"I mean, that's why. That changes your life. If a lot of people go and see something, then your career changes and it has an effect."

The pub crowd takes no obvious notice of Law, but through the window, he thinks he glimpses a photographer who has been dogging his movements of late. That side of burgeoning celebrity, he says, is "very, very boring."

Does he feel like a movie star? Law cites "Ripley" costars Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow -- Oscar-winners both -- by way of distinguishing himself. Being British, he says, allows him more distance from Hollywood's star-making machinery.

"They felt like movie stars also because they were American, and in a funny way, that was the awkward thing," says Law. "They were both actors but they had no choice but to be movie stars because they're born into that scene."

"I don't feel like a movie star," says Law -- then, referring to his family, he adds, "and thank God I'm not allowed to."

Yes, but what happens when your career simply demands otherwise?

Law is about to see for himself with the release over the next four months of two higher-profile movies. In "Enemy at the Gates," he and Joseph Fiennes ("Shakespeare in Love") co-star as Russians bent on outwitting the Germans during the siege of Stalingrad in World War II.

Law plays Vassili Zaitsev, a country boy from the Urals whose keen marksmanship makes him the best hope of a demoralized Russia to outsmart Maj. Konig, a Nazi sniper played by Ed Harris. It is the most expensive European movie to date, with an estimated budget of $80 million to $95 million.

In the summer, Law reappears -- alongside a fellow Oscar nominee from last year, Haley Joel Osment -- in "AI." (The title is short for "artificial intelligence.") Initiated nearly two decades ago by the late Stanley Kubrick, the futuristic movie marks director Steven Spielberg's first film since "Saving Private Ryan."

That Law's projects are rising in visibility goes without saying, given the many barely seen film curiosities -- "The Wisdom of Crocodiles," "Final Cut," "Love, Honour and Obey" -- with which his resume is littered. More people probably saw his sizzling Broadway debut in 1995 in "Indiscretions," as Kathleen Turner's boy-toy of a son. (He received a Tony nomination.)

At the same time, says Law of his widening exposure, "the idea that that will ever affect the way I choose work from now on is kind of ludicrous. Sure, the idea of people seeing what you have done is, of course, very gratifying; it's a validation of your job."

And yet, "I don't lose any sleep over something not being No. — at the box office." His greatest screen achievement remains the scarily seductive Bosie in "Wilde," an underrated film biography of Oscar Wilde.

"I mean, you hope people will see your movie, but on the whole, it's like, I leave it up to them. I don't want to force someone out of their house."

In "Enemy at the Gates," Law relished the opportunity to get his hands dirty in what may be the most grimly realistic depiction of war since "Saving Private Ryan." As directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the actors are almost secondary to the stunning visuals, shot in Berlin early last year. (The movie opened last month's Berlin Film Festival.)

"Jean-Jacques has made a film which doesn't lay the blame anywhere," Law says admiringly of his French director.

"It's not that the Germans are the bad guys and we -- the Russians -- are the good guys; it's a bigger film than that. It's that war doesn't work; war is an inhumane thing."

Vassili, thrust into the spotlight by Russian authorities, "has this persona created around him with the responsibility of a nation on his shoulders and at the same time the self-doubt of a very simple, very humble man in reality," Law says.

Asked about his own status as a darling of the British press, Law says "My persona is this person I can't so much turn off as just step away from. I choose mostly not to read the stuff written about me or open a lot of the letters because that's not my reality."

The attention, one senses, is a lot to take for someone born in south London into an un-starry family of teachers who, Law says, "were just very cool."

His reality, he says, "is choosing film and theater for the right reasons -- what part is going to challenge or inspire me next?"

It was a no-brainer when he took the late-night call in Berlin from Spielberg, offering him the role in "AI."

"You think, this is crazy. I have to jump on this right now because it sounds wonderful and the part is wonderful, and look who's making the offer."

He is equally excited about co-starring with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in "The Road to Perdition," director Sam Mendes' first film since winning an Oscar for "American Beauty." The film is currently shooting in Chicago.

Director Anthony Minghella, who worked with Law on "Ripley," says, "The amazing thing about Jude, and what defines him to me, is enthusiasm. He has none of the coolness of somebody marked down by stardom; he's living life with the volume turned up."

Next year, Law returns to the London stage to play the title role in Christopher Marlowe's 16th-century classic, "Dr. Faustus"; an American run, he hopes, will follow.

If work doesn't rule his life -- "I'm lazy; I'm happiest at home at night hanging out with the kids" -- that's due to Law's love of family. His wife is actress Sadie Frost, whom Law met while making an otherwise negligible film called "Shopping." They have two children -- Rafferty, 4, and baby Iris, 4 months -- plus Finlay, Frost's 10-year-old son from a previous marriage.

"I don't want to go abroad all the time," said Law, aware that Raff starts school in September. "As soon as school kicks in, I want to be here. I'll be quite happy at home doing theater; to me, that feels like stability."

"If I'm really honest," he adds, "I love work and I love theater, and there's nothing like having the chance to work with a great mind who you know is going to improve your craft -- who's going to take you someplace you have never been before."

But, he makes plain, almost as a caveat to himself, "I'm not in the business of business in my acting career."

"That's why I've always said that for me, having a family has been my saving grace because the rules -- the laws -- (that) they apply to it have kind of narrowed everything down. I can't work back-to-back on anything because what would I be like to myself? I'd drive myself to an early grave with guilt and worry for the family whom I'd never see."

In any case, he adds, "there's always going to be a slight dust storm over, 'Oh, he's the new young thing,' and there's only so long that can last."