Jude Law: ‘I Just Wanted to Catch Bad Guys’ Says FBI Agent Role in The Order

Jude Law revealed the deep research he conducted to portray FBI Agent Terry Husk in The Order, a film based on true events from the 1980s involving an anti-government white supremacist group called The Order. The group, led by Bob Matthews, posed a significant threat to the U.S., and Husk’s character is based on a real FBI agent who was dedicated to bringing the members to justice.

As both an actor and producer on the project, Law took a hands-on approach to understanding the intricacies of the case and the motivations of the real FBI agents involved. “When I came on board as a producer,” Law 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 were helpful to understand.”

To better grasp the dedication and mindset of the agents, Law reached out to real FBI agents who worked in the ’80s. “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,” Law shared.

In his preparation, Law also drew heavily from the real-life Special Agent Manus, who led the investigation. “Special Agent Manus, who was at the front of this case and had an extraordinary career, wrote a very interesting book and I leaned 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,” Law explained.

“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.” Law’s in-depth research and connection to the real agents’ motivations make his portrayal of Terry Husk in The Order a compelling look into the world of FBI investigations during a tumultuous time in U.S. history.