Jude Law has a thing for captains. In 2004, he was the eponymous pilot in the underseen dieselpunk actioner Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. In 2019, he costarred with Brie Larson as she introduced the MCU’s new hero, Captain Marvel. And soon he’ll play one of the most famous captains of all, Captain Hook, in Disney’s upcoming adventure Peter Pan & Wendy.
Law, 49, will follow in a long line of memorable performances of the villainous pirate, including Hans Conried (the voice of Hook in 1953’s animated Peter Pan), Jason Isaacs (in 2003’s live action Peter Pan) and, most famously, Dustin Hoffman (in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 favorite Hook).
“I knew most of the performances pretty well because they were all iconic performances in good films,” Law tells Yahoo Entertainment this past weekend at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., where he was joined by Peter Pan & Wendy director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon, The Green Knight). “I probably used it as an excuse to go back and watch them, yeah. I didn’t do it as part of the process.”
Instead, Law turned back to the original source material, the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, by J.M. Barrie (based on his own 1904 play).
“I went back to the book, which I hadn’t read in a long time, and which I was much less familiar with,” Law says. “The script already had incredible content that opened him up as a character into directions that I don’t think had been investigated before.”
Among other wrinkles we haven’t seen lately, Peter Pan & Wendy will delve into a deeper, often untold history between the boy who never grows up (Alexander Molony) and his legendary nemesis — while fleshing out Hook a bit more in the process.
“It was all about building him for myself, with David,” Law says. “And what did I want to bring out of it and what did David want to bring out of it? So it became personal.”
—Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by Jimmie Rhee
Peter Pan & Wendy will premiere in 2023 on Disney+.
