It’s never easy playing the third wheel in a love triangle, particularly when it’s your wife who wants to leave you for another man. Couple this with the fact that Karenin (Jude Law) is a well-respected and very public figure in Russia’s aristocracy – and his crumbling marriage is being played out on a national stage – and you can understand why Anna Karenina is such a challenge.
Law welcomes the role. Relishes it. And like the other members of Joe Wright’s cast, Law buys into the passion that lies beneath the costuming and sets of the gorgeous period drama. Anna Karenina, as the actor tells us, is a passionate piece, and he expects audiences to respond accordingly. (Katey Rich sure did. Read her five-star review right here.)
At the Toronto Film Festival, we were able to sit down with Law and discuss the different ways Wright encouraged his cast to act, their approach to stage performance (and why it didn’t matter here), the scene that reminded him of vintage cinema, and more. Here’s Jude Law:
