Jude Law Admits ‘I Heart Huckabees’ Had ‘Bizarre’ Production

Jude Law has been teasing audiences for decades now. His looks, charm, tenacity, and willingness to channel that success in interesting, unexpected directions have always been admirable. But one of his riskier pivots — perhaps only in retrospect — was David O. Russell’s 2004 ensemble black comedy, “I Heart Huckabees.” Co-starring Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, and many others, the film follows a group of interconnected lives all being investigated by “existential detectives.” Law had admired Russell and, unlike some of Russell’s past players, continues a relationship with the auteur to this day, but knows the film and the process of making it can be viewed with a negative light. 

“The experience of making that film was bizarre,” said Law in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. “We were all there doing it for nothing, just loving being in each other’s company and playing. I remember fantasizing, ‘Well, this is what it must have been like on a Cassavetes movie. This is what it must have been like on a Bergman film.’ You were just there on the island listening to the master and adhering. And at the same time, sometimes being the bad child going, ‘Oh, I don’t want to play today. Fuck you. I’m not going to get up and do that.’ Other days: ‘Whatever you say, let’s do it.’ He kind of encouraged that.”

A lot of Law’s willingness to play and let his mood carry him came from…