While in San Diego covering the Comic-Con convention I got a chance to check out a sneak peek at the upcoming "retro sci-fi" film SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. The film follows a reporter (Gwyneth Paltrow) and pilot (Jude Law) who team up on an adventure and risking their lives as they travel to exotic places around world to stop Dr. Totenkopf, the evil mastermind behind a plot to destroy the earth. After seeing the film I thought it was a great film, too bad it’s coming out in Sept when it should of came out in the summer. The film had action, adventure, special effects you name it. If you liked films like Flash Gordon, and The Rocketeer then don’t miss this film when it hits theaters this Fall, you wont be disappointed. The following day back at the convention before the talent hit the panel me and a group of journalist got a chance to talk to Jude Law who plays Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan. Jude talks about working with Gwyneth, Angelina and a first time director. Here is what he had to say.

You’ve worked with Gwyneth Paltrow before, was it easier for you guys to imagine all the stuff that wasn’t there?

Jude Law: Yeah, very much so. I mean…. From the point of view of a producer it was very important that we found someone who got the references to make Polly three dimensional and as sexy and also as sassy as quickly as possible. And we knew Gwyneth was absolutely spot on for that. We knew that she would look phenomenal in that period. And from an actors point of view it was important I suppose…it’s always an ideal world if you’re going to try and create a relationship with history if you’re going to try kind of bound in between people that you’ve got something there to begin with and we’ve worked together and we’ve also maintained a friendship. She also as an actress brings incredible sense of “No Messing” and that meant that there was a sort of portion of Polly already there because I knew I had to keep up with her cause she turns up she knows her stuff and she just delivers. As far as the kind of imagining, yeah I suppose again working with a friend meant that we can make light of it, we can enjoy it, we can play with it and rather than discover how each other work those mechanics were already there.

Did you have any concerns working with a first time director?

Jude: Yeah It was interesting, I mean to be honest the risk and the leap of faith has only become apparent to me since I’ve seen the film finished (Laughs) because when I saw the teaser and read the script it was just clear that he was a brilliant talent. I loved the idea that he was creating a retro world with his incredible references to Fritz Lang, and films like Citizen Kane, and the Third Man and that he was using incredible advance technology and that was kind of a perfect duality there, that one would complement the other. It was clear for the script that he had a real sense of thread rather than relying on effects. You know that heart of this film is a really strong very cinematic relationship that you can actually take out of this genre and put anywhere and it will still work. You can put this in any period and it would probably pull it self together somehow, and the characters are very strong so it just seemed to me rather than taking a risk, and one of the reasons I wanted to be a producer on it was I wanted to empower this guy to get this thing going. And it never even really felt like it was a risk because of his lack of experience in working with actors when making films, all I felt my responsibility was that we could embellish everything he gave us. We knew that what we gave him he was go away and make this beautiful world out of and that he was going to see through his vision. But what I felt we added was also those moments when we’d shoot what we needed to get and then we’d say, “Well look give to us we can run away with this, we’ll try this, let us improvise a little bit or give us a little bit more and we’ll make this scene much bigger you know?” Whether it’s Steven Spielberg who is a genius at film or whether it’s someone like Kerry (Conran) who hadn’t done anything before but has a very clear-cut kind of calling cards that he had at talent, there are similarities they’re both collaborative, they’re both brave, they’re both very clear with what they wanted to do, but they’re both also very friendly and that’s what you really ask for in someone. It would’ve been a bigger leap had he been an asshole, who would say ‘This is my film’ you know what I mean? The fact was he was clearly a man who was going to make a film with us rather than dictate to us but that’s the same with pretty much all the directors I’ve worked with.

How much freedom did you have to improvise?

Jude: Not a lot. Well this is the interesting thing, he built into his process the opportunity for us to rearrange movements…It wasn’t like this is what I’ve created and you’ve got to move here and you’ve got to pick this up and you’ve got to do this. We would be able to watch it and come up with ideas and add to it and sometimes it’s a pretty standard scene. If it was a more action sequence, I mean we were developing those action sequences all the way. I would say this is a bit empty let me do a roll or let me do this and if we have another robot there then we’ll fill that gap. So suddenly it becomes a very evolving process rather than rigid. Don’t get me wrong the blueprint was very strong.

Why do end with a Joke and not a kiss?

Jude: I think because there is an ambiguousness about their relationship that we wanted to maintain. And it kind of leaves room answers at a later date if we get to make another, which I really hope we do. And I think also at the end it defines their relationship more than a kiss would.

You’ve taken this all over the planet, underwater, in the jungles. Where on earth can the next Sky Captain go other than space?

Jude: We can go anywhere

Are you signed for a sequel?

Jude: It’s not a case of being signed because we made it. So its whether Paramount will allow us to really now. I don’t know. As a team we’re forced together as a team to do it. It all depends I suppose on how well it does.

You’ve done like half a dozen coming out before the end of the year, have you had to time for a break?

Jude: I’ve just taken about four months off. I don’t go to work till November. I’m taking a big window time off, so there’s a least six months when my face isn’t on the cinema.

What did you think of the paintings that obviously the characters are being interpreted in art and stuff like that?

Jude: That was a really important part of what enable us to believe in this world while we were making it in a kind of blue see you know? Because whether it was going back and watching movies that had inspired Kerry or looking at comic strips that inspired him or just images or paintings. Kevin, (Kerry’s brother) did a lot of those, and there is something so clear about those and if you get them you know immediately the kind of tone, you get the whole world of what that film or that world is going…what you have to create and they were really important. I love them anywhere; I was a big fan of that kind of artwork.

How was it to working with Angelina Jolie?

Jude: Well Angie is a really old friend who I met not through work but through friends of mine. And it was funny actually working together cause we’ve always talked about doing really serious dramas or this and that. It was a lot of fun; she is so incredibly professional Angie and had done incredible research for that part, which is extraordinary.

Research?

Jude: Yeah, reading up on female pilots and studying the voice and all of that. But it was so exciting to have her come by and her piece. She was only there for four days I think.

What did you think when you first say her in that costume with the eye patch?

Jude: I think we were all jealous that she got the best costume to be honest. I mean Gwyneth looked pretty awesome but I particular liked the fish bowl. I was like ‘Why don’t I get a fish bowl, I want a fish bowl’

Was there ever any danger with this thing cause there’s always nods and wings and references but not pushing it to parity

Jude: Not a danger but that's something we were really aware of, and we had a lot of discussions early on. I mean I kind of knew because of my enjoyment of this genre that we didn’t want to go there, Gwyneth quite brightly brought it up early on “is this going be kind of sending it up” and there were moments in scenes that the first time we tried it out it seemed a bit too camp and we’d just bring it down. It wasn’t a tight rope but it was something that we had to be aware of and again Kerry, for all his modesty and his incredible shyness is very strong and very perceptive he knew when to bring it back and when not to.
But also for my taste as an actor, if there is anything that I’m good at is sending stuff up, I can do comedy, I can do drama, because in the end all I like to do is commit. I think if you give me something I’ll completely sell it to you so in a why that’s all I could do in this. So if there’s a fucking robot coming, it’s coming. I’ve to deal with it.

Do you have a favorite robot?

Jude: I’ve got a special place for the ones with the tentacles arms just because I got to know them personally. They had me dangled two days upside down.

I think this is your second big sort of blue screen special effects kind of film.