Jude Law talked to real FBI agents for ‘The Order’: Here’s what he learned
Jude Law got in touch with real former FBI agents to get into the character of FBI Agent Terry Husk, who makes it his purpose to catch the members of The Order, an anti-government white supremacist group in the ‘80s that was led by Bob Matthews.
Law’s character is based on a real agent, and the story of the film is based on true events from the ‘80s.
The Sherlock Holmes actor also served as a producer on the film and did thorough research on the formation of The Order, as well as the FBI Agents that worked on the case.
“When I came on board as a producer,” he told Deadline, “I wanted to better understand the whole story, so obviously I read the book that was used as our inspiration, The Silent Brotherhood, and The Turner Diaries, and there’s a lot of material online about these movements and the early formation of these groups that was helpful to understand.”
To understand the strong sense of purpose the agents had, the Firebrand actor reached out to agents who were in service back in the ‘80s.
Law revealed what they told him, saying, “They wanted to serve their country, or they really believed in the Bureau and the process of the Bureau, or they just wanted, and this is verbatim, they would say, ‘I just wanted to catch bad guys. I became a cop, or I joined the army and then that led me to the Bureau, and I just wanted to catch the top of the pyramid.’ And that kind of devotion really intrigued me, that kind of all-in attitude.”
Jude Law also revealed how he learnt from the real-life agent he plays in The Order, saying, “Special Agent Manus, who was at the front of this case and had an extraordinary career, wrote a very interesting book and I lent very heavily on that. It spoke to the area that I found most distant, I suppose, from me, this sense of motivation these guys had to join the Bureau. There’s a great line in it in our film: “You would understand this agent being in a cult, the FBI.” And it’s interesting because indeed those agents are obsessive. They believed utterly in the Bureau.”
