Jude Law Has Called Out The Way He Was Objectified In His Early Career — And Claimed That “People Would Have Been Told Off” If He Were A Woman
“I was this young guy desperately keen to have an acting career and for people to talk about that, as opposed to what I looked like.”
Jude Law has called out the way that he was objectified during his early career — and claimed that if he were a woman, “people would have been told off.”
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Now 51, the British actor was 17 years old when he started trying to make it in the industry back in 1989.
He enjoyed success throughout the ’90s but didn’t really break into the mainstream until he starred alongside Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the 1999 movie The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Jude played Dickie in the critically acclaimed film, a wealthy and incredibly attractive playboy who Matt’s character, Tom Ripley, becomes obsessed with.
According to Variety, Jude almost turned down the role because he was wary of being typecast as a “pretty party boy,” and feared Hollywood wouldn’t take him seriously.
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The movie actually catapulted him to global superstardom, with his performance winning him a BAFTA alongside nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe.
However, the role also asserted Jude’s position as a heartthrob, with the movie’s costume designer, Ann Roth, telling Variety: “He was definitely a teenage girl’s dreamboat in Ripley. He was a great-looking guy. He had the right walk.”
Five years later, Jude was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, and he has now admitted that he was “frustrated” by this hyper-fixation on his looks. He went on to theorize that people wouldn’t have gotten away with speaking about him in this way if he were a woman.
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Reflecting on this period of his career, the star told Variety: “Interestingly, I was talking about this to a friend, he made a good point. He said: ‘If you were a woman, people would have been told off for objectifying you.’”
“I think it frustrated me because I was this young guy desperately keen to have an acting career and for people to talk about that, as opposed to what I looked like,” he concluded.
One of the examples of Jude’s objectification cited in the profile is when he was left squirming during his first ever appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in 2004.
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The host kicked off the interview by commenting on Jude’s looks, saying: “I know you hear all the time just how handsome you are.”
Ellen then revealed: “When men go get their lips redone, to plastic surgeons, your lips are the most requested lips. Did you know that?”
Jude was visibly shocked by this revelation, before replying: “It’s kind of staggering that men go and get their lips redone, isn’t it?”
He jokingly folded his upper lip inward as he quipped: “I’ve got great lips!”
NBC / Via youtube.com
Ellen then had a cameraman zoom in on his lips so that they could be properly analyzed, but Jude couldn’t stop laughing.
