Jude Law Was Told to 'Get a Suntan and Find Your Swagger' as Prep for HisTalented Mr. RipleyRole

Mar. 15, 2025

Jude Law in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ in 1999.Photo:Paramount Pictures/Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy

Paramount Pictures/Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy

Jude Lawis opening up about how he nailed his breakthrough performance as dreamy millionaire playboy Dickie Greenleaf inThe Talented Mr. Ripley.

The star sat down on SiriusXM’sThe Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunninghamto dish on the 1999 thriller, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Noting that the actor oozed sex appeal in the role, Cunningham brought up the scene in whichMatt Damon’s titular conman first encounters Dickie lounging on an Italian beach next to his fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow).

“I imagine, like, being on the beach, the notes were like, ‘Matt Damon, look more pale. Jude, look hotter and more sun bronze,’ ” Cunningham joked.

“Those were exactly the directions we were given,” Law, 51, responded.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Matt Damon in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ in 1999.Phil Bray/Paramount/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock

Phil Bray/Paramount/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock

“I was directed to go to that island weeks before and get a suntan and learn to sail and drink fine wine,” he added.

As Law noted, he’d mostly appeared in smaller roles and under-the-radar films prior to his head-turning performance inRipley. One of the challenges he faced on set, he said, was playing Dickie’s easy confidence opposite his acclaimed costars.

“You know, I knew Matt’s work already. I knew Gwyneth andCate [Blanchett]andPhilip [Seymour Hoffman].” he explained. “And I turned up. I’d only really made a couple of films and honestly, the biggest challenge to me was to kind of embody the kind of confidence and swagger of Dickie. And, you know, I was pretty overwhelmed being in that film to begin with, so a big part of the buildup was, yeah, get a suntan and find your swagger.”

Jude Law in November 2024.BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty

BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty

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Law, of course, more than rose to the occasion, andRipleycatapulted him to Hollywood’s A-list.

“It was just a wonderful period of my life,”Law told PEOPLE earlier this yearof the time following the film’s release. “It felt like everything I’d hoped acting and that career could provide was happening.”

“I was working with a wonderful director, a really exciting young cast,” he added of his work onRipleywith Anthony Minghella. “I was playing a guy who was just playing jazz and boating around and swimming in the ocean and eating delicious food in wonderful locations.”

The response the film got, he said, “was life-changing. Really.”

source: people.com