Jude Law‘s newest film may technically be a period piece loosely based on a true story from the past, but its resonance feels eerily prescient for the present, as well. And that may not be totally coincidental, as The Order‘s director Justin Kurzel recently revealed how the January 6 insurrection inspired the Neo-Nazi crime thriller.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kurzel broke down how the visuals from the day showed him just how relevant the story he was telling was to modern times. As Kurzel put it, “There were just so many similarities to what was going on within this incredible script Zach had written that I just found it so compelling and wanted to find a way into it that I felt could be a wonderful first American film.”
He added, “I was really surprised that I was reading a period piece that was speaking so much to the climate that’s going on today.”
What Is The Order About?
The true-crime drama tells the story of Bob Mathews (played by Nicholas Hoult), a charismatic white nationalist leader, hell-bent on inciting a race war. Jude Law costars as Terry Husk, “a fictional FBI agent who connects the dots between a string of daring robberies and Mathew’s domestic terrorist cell,” according to the EW write-up. After teaming up with a local deputy named Jamie (played by Tye Sheridan) and his former FBI partner Joanne (played by Jurnee Smollett), Husk rushes to reveal and dismantle the terrifying Neo-Nazi plot before the group incites a violent revolution.
The film debuted at the Venice International Film Festival with a 7-minute standing ovation. It currently has an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, too. The film takes inspiration from the 1989 non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, which tells the story of Mathews’ real-life terrorist group and how they were inspired by The Turner Diaries, a 1978 novel by white supremacist William Luther Pierce. And though that book was a work of fiction, Mathews and other white supremacist leaders have attempted to utilize the book as a guidebook to overthrowing the government and gain control of America in the name of their hateful movement.
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The movie is based on a chilling true story.
“I was really looking to do an American film and something that felt contemporary in a way,” the Australian director explained. And when he read Zach Baylin’s script and saw, “images of nooses hanging outside the Capitol Building as props,” he realized there were “real similarities to a particular chapter in the [William Luther Pierce] book called Day of the Rope that was describing and reenacting these politicians being hung outside the building.”
It’s all quite chilling given the times we are in: here’s hoping it shows people how harmful — rather than aspirational — white supremacist thinking is to everyone when it hits theaters on December 5.
In 1983, an Idaho-based FBI agent spots a pattern in recent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations and armored car heists terrorizing communities across the Pacific Northwest. He sets out to prove it is not the work of a traditional organized crime unit, but a radical group with a charismatic leader Bob Mathews.
- Release Date
- December 5, 2024
- Cast
- Marc Maron , George Tchortov , Daniel Yip , Daniel Doheny , Sebastian Pigott , Jude Law , John Warkentin , Nicholas Hoult , Phillip Forest Lewitski , Vanessa Holmes , Bryan J. McHale , Rae Farrer , Carter Morrison , Odessa Young , Tye Sheridan , Philip Granger , Ryan Chandoul Wesley , Morgan Holmstrom , Bradley Stryker , Alison Oliver , Huxley Fisher , Jurnee Smollett , Randy Fisher , Geena Meszaros , Sean Tyler Foley , Victor Slezak , Matias Lucas , Sarah Haggeman , Dayna Lea Hoffman , Lenore Stillwell , Jason Long , Reid Fisher , Jerod Blake , Paul Wood , Shawn Markwardt , Judith Buchan , David LeReaney , Sally Bishop , Stafford Perry , Chantal Perron
- Runtime
- 120 Minutes
- Character(s)
- Alan Berg , Gary Yarbrough , Engineer , Walter West , Bruce Pierce , Terry Husk , Hotel Receptionist , Bob Mathews , David Lane , Bank Teller #1 , Bank Manager , Bank Teller #2 , Spokane Cop , Zillah Craig , Jamie Bowen , Sheriff Loftlin , Willie Bowen , Kimmy Bowen , Sam Stinson , Debbie Mathews , Clinton Matthews , Joanne Carney , Bonnie Sue’s Father , Bonnie Sue West , Tony Bentley , Richard Butler , Tony Torres , Connie Pierce , Another Mother , Seattle Elderly Woman , Seattle Armed Guard #1 , Seattle Armed Guard #2 , Seattle Armored Truck Driver , Nazi Speaker , Brady’s Gun Store Clerk , Birdie Lane , Donald Lane , Brinks Guard , FBI Agent , Jean Craig