Between Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Captain Marvel, Jude Law is trying really hard not to spill any secrets for either during his latest media blitz. Enter The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who did just about everything he could to break through the English actor’s defenses on Tuesday night. To his credit, Law refused to say whether he was playing a new take on the alien warrior Mar-Vell in Marvel’s latest, but that didn’t stop him from shedding some light on the superhero movie studio’s insane secrecy practices.
“There was a guy hired” whose sole job it was to make sure the incredulous actor would never accidentally reveal his costume. “I promise you,” he added:
“On set they would say, ‘Mr. Law, we’re ready for you,’ and you’d step out in your suit and he’d be like, ‘Put the cloak on! Put the cloak on! Hide! Put the hood up!’ I mean, everywhere you went. My children visited the set and they were running after them. ‘Sign the NDAs! Sign the NDAs! Who are these guys?’ It was tight! Scary.”
The ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe’s sprawling cast has frequently joked about evading “Marvel snipers” while doing press tours, but the studio obviously isn’t going to hire real hitmen to take out their talent. But having executives chase their children around the set in order to make them sign non-disclosure agreements? That’s… that’s totally believable.
Law also spoke about playing a young Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel and the Harry Potter world’s dedication to secrecy but explained it wasn’t as tight. “I think it might be this British-American difference,” he laughed. “With Fantastic Beasts, they’re like, ‘We assume you’re not gonna give any secrets away, and if you do, we’re going to tell you not to again. Then we may quietly kill you.” Well, that’s nice.