Diksha Sundriyal
Starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult, ‘The Order’ follows the story of an FBI agent and his quest to bring the leader of a white supremacist organization to justice. When Terry Husk is sent to a small town in Idaho, he thinks he can finally rest easy as the place doesn’t seem to have much going on. But then, a series of robberies and the concerns of a police officer lead him to investigate the organization called the Order, led by a man named Bob Mathews. The film, which is based on true events, follows the cat-and-mouse chase of the federal agent and the racist criminal. However, only one of them was a real person. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Fictional Terry Husk is a Composite of Several Real FBI Agents
While most of ‘The Order’ brings to life real events, there are certain things that have been added to the story to make it more interesting. Terry Husk happens to be one of those things. The fictional FBI agent is an amalgamation of the several Feds who worked hard to bring Bob Mathews and his group to justice. The lead on the case was an FBI agent named Wayne Manis. Now operating his own corporate security and executive protection agency in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Manis retired from the agency in 1994. The career history of Terry Husk in the movie is somewhat based on Manis’ who was involved in cases that handled the likes of the KKA, the Italian Mafia and the Dixie Mafia, to name a few. He made important connections between several clues in the case that eventually led to Bob Mathews. He was also present during the standoff, which ended with Bob Mathews’ death.
While the filmmakers were intrigued by Manis’ arc, they also wanted something different for Terry’s character. One of the main reasons for it was to create a clear contrast between him and Bob Mathews. Actor Jude Law told The Hollywood Reporter that writer Zach Baylin “was clear from the get-go that Terry needed to reflect certain lifestyle choices” to give more depth to the conflicts of the story. At the same time, he didn’t want to make those changes in the personality of a real person, which is why it was decided that Terry Husk should have a fictional touch. With this in mind, Terry was estranged from his family, which factors into how he handles his cases and what it costs him. Manis, however, had a happy married life with his wife and kids. This change also allowed the writer to draw upon the characteristics and roles of other agents who had worked on the case with Manis, making Terry a fully-rounded character and serving as a complicated protagonist for the film.
Jude Law Worked with Justin Kurzel to Make Terry Husk More Realistic
For Jude Law, the role of Terry Husk was unlike anything he had played in his long and accomplished career. Justin Kurzel told Entertainment Weekly that he worked with the actor from the beginning of the project to bring a unique perspective to Terry’s arc. The director revealed that in order to help Law get into the skin of the character, he told him to secretly follow Nicholas Hoult, who plays Bob Mathews, for a whole day. Interestingly, Kurzel gave the same tip to Hoult, who followed Law for a day without the actor knowing about it. According to the director, this allowed both actors to have “focus and a concentration and a sense of privacy” that comes with the process, allowing them to know their characters better.
Another thing that helped Law get into the character was catching a cold during the rehearsal process. At the same time, he was also exhausted at home, taking care of his young children. When this weariness started to show on his face during filming, Kurzel told him that this was the look befitting someone like Terry Husk, and they went with it. Jude Law revealed that his idea of Terry Husk was a broken man who has nothing left in his life anymore, now that he is past his prime in the career he gave everything to. He and Kurzel came up with things like the scar on Terry’s chest and his nosebleeds appearing randomly, making one question if his health was up to par.
The actor and director saw the nosebleeds as a result of the physical and mental toll that his job has taken on him. The actor also related to the fact that Terry has to break away from what he thought would be a solitary and uneventful life in the small Idaho town, only to discover that his biggest challenge may yet be ahead of him. In the same vein, the actor believed that the world had moved past the hate-fuelled by extremism years ago, only to discover through all sorts of events throughout the world that the fight is nowhere near over.
Read More: The Order’s True Story: What Happened to Bob Mathews in Real Life?
You must be logged in to post a comment.