Over the course of his career, actor Jude Law has played a lot of heroes and villains, but he’s never played a character like Alexei Karenin in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, which as the educated readers out there may have guessed, is adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s classic piece of literature from the 19th Century.
In the movie, Law plays the husband of Keira Knightley’s title character, though that doesn’t mean he gets any romantic scenes with her, because those are reserved for her younger lover Count Vronsky, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. It’s that extramarital tryst that gets Anna into trouble with her diplomat, played with a stern and steely reserve by Law, as he forces her to choose between true love or being with their son.
Back in September, ComingSoon.net attended the junket for the movie during the Toronto International Film Festival, and we had a chance to talk with Law about:
* What his reaction was to getting the script and reasons for wanting to do it.
* Why he never had a chance to work with Joe Wright before
* Shooting the movie on a stage like a play
* Whether he worries that readers of the novel may have preconceived notions of his character
* How the upcoming “Side Effects” (called “Bitter Pill” at the time) will be Steven Soderbergh’s last movie
* Whether his blogger character may return for the planned sequel to Contagion
