Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult Get Venice Standing Ovation for ‘The Order’

Jude Law lit up the Lido with his powerful performance as an FBI agent fighting neo-Nazi terrorists in Justin Kurzel‘s timely crime thriller “The Order” that elicited a seven-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere.

Based on true events, the film is set in 1983 Idaho and sees a lone FBI agent follow a series of increasingly violent bank robberies and car heists, coming to realize that they’re the work of a group of dangerous domestic neo-Nazi terrorists, inspired by the radical leader Robert Jay Mathews, played by Nicholas Hoult, that are plotting a war against the U.S. government.

“The Order,” which is an adaptation of the 1989 book “The Silent Brotherhood” by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, also stars Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver and Odessa Young.

Earlier in the day at the film’s press conference, Law spoke about the importance of the film at a time when far-right ideologies are rising again.

“Sadly, the relevance speaks for itself,” he said. “It felt like a piece of work that needed to be made now. It’s always interesting finding a piece from the past that has some relevant relationship to the present day.”

“On January 6, 2021, nooses were hung in front of the Capitol Building imitating a fictional insurrection from the 1970’s novel ‘The Turner Diaries,’ the first master plan for domestic terrorism in America,” is how Kurzel, in a statement, has underlined the film’s current relevance. The director calls “The Order” “a manhunt into the depths of that hate, a foreshadowing of a divided America, a warning shot of what has been and what may come.”

Law was previously in Venice for “The Young Pope” satirical series in 2016, while Hoult has been attending the festival off and on since one of his first big screen roles, 2009’s “A Simple Man” alongside Colin Firth.

Vertical is set to release “The Order” in the U.S. in December, while Amazon Prime Video will distribute the feature in multiple international territories.