Jude Law’s ‘The Order’ Scared U.S. Distributors, Says Stuart Ford

Jude Law thriller “The Order,” which opens next week in the U.S., has not been an easy sell amid the current Trumpian zeitgeist.

The Justin Kurzel-directed film, in which Law plays an FBI agent fighting white supremacist terrorists in 1980s Idaho, is emblematic of how U.S. buyers are gun shy in general right now. And particularly so, when it comes to politically sensitive fare.

“When we came to sell the film (before its Venice launch) there were some distributors who were outwardly nervous that its subject matter was divisive from a Red State/Blue State perspective,” said “The Order” producer Stuart Ford on Saturday speaking on the sidelines of Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival, where the thriller was the warmly received opener.

“We think that was a hopelessly overcautious way of looking at the film. But that definitively was a factor,” added Ford, who heads prominent indie content company AGC Studios.

Based on true events, “The Order” is set in 1983 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Law puts in a powerful performance as a lone FBI agent who, following a series of increasingly violent bank robberies and car heists, comes to realize that they’re the work of a group of dangerous domestic neo-Nazi white suprematist terrorists. They are inspired by the real-life radical leader Robert Jay Mathews, played by Nicholas Hoult, and are plotting a war against the U.S. government.

Ford said that “There is no doubt” that “The Order” fits into the Trumpian Zeitgeist. “Unfortunately, the relevance of the film speaks for itself,” he noted.

“We did debate significantly – both before we sold U.S. distribution rights, and then afterward, when we had a U.S. distribution partner – about: Do we release the film before the election, or after the election?,” the producer revealed.

“In the end we decided to go with whatever made more sense for the film, from a competitive…