As a lot as cinema enjoys the privilege of creative licence, Indian films typically take this too severely and go overboard, dispensing essentially the most outrageously unbelievable stuff. On the opposite hand, Western works often have the tendency to keep throughout the confines of realism. A basic instance of this we noticed on the ongoing 76th version of the Cannes Film Festival. British actor Jude Law, who performs King Henry VIII, in Karim Ainouz’s Firebrand wore a particular ‘fragrance’ made from “puss, blood, faecal matter and sweat”. Wow! (Also Read | Cannes favourite The Zone of Interest director says it is not a museum piece)
He instructed a press convention after the screening, “I heard stories that you could smell Henry VIII rooms away because his leg was rotting. They used rose oil to cover the smell. I thought it would have a great impact if I smelt awful.”
In the start, he used little or no of the ‘fragrance’, however because the shoot progressed, the entire thing turned a “spray fest”.
Aïnouz, testified to the success of Law’s immersive method. “When he walked in on set,” he stated, “it was just horrible.”
In Firebrand, Law stars reverse Alicia Vikander, who’s Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth and closing spouse. As Henry’s well being deteriorates, she is suspected of getting a relationship with heretic Anne Askew.
Continuing his chat with journalists on the convention, Law stated that he didn’t actually perceive the current British monarchy. “I see it like theatre although I’m slightly more obsessed with theatre. I don’t really follow it. I’m not one for gossip, I don’t really enjoy it, I find no interest in it. But it’s remarkable looking at the photos and how it relates today. This chapter in history is very intriguing.”
Ainouz described the obsession with the trendy monarchy as “puzzling”.
Law’s approach into the monstrous Henry was to take away the trimmings of royalty. Two of his wives had been beheaded. “I started with him as a man”, he averred. “The physical frailties he was carrying and how he dealt with those – he became not a recognisable, but an empathetic person.”
Actress Vikander, who was additionally current on the convention, drew a parallel between Firebrand’s plot and the ladies in the MeToo period. “It really hit us while we were making some of these scenes, those very sensitive moments. I could get a sense of what it could be like for a person,” the Swedish actress stated. “I don’t think there’s any difference between being there 500 years ago and today.”