Photos from ‘Side Effects’ Paris premiere that took place at the UGC Cine Cite des Halles on March 7th have now been added to our gallery. Check them out!

‘I’m 40! I’m an adult!” shouts Jude Law. “Aren’t I?” We hold these truths to be self-evident, I reply, as the actor, laughing, stares across the table with those adorable baby blues and more hair than’s fair. “But,” he says more quietly, “part of me thinks I can’t play a doctor. Who would come to me?”

You’ve got to be kidding. Who wouldn’t come to Dr Jude? In Steven Soderbergh’s film Side Effects, Law plays an Englishman in New York, a slimy limey of a pill-dispensing psychiatrist who becomes entangled in murder, drug switcheroos, a risible lesbian insider trading scam and lots more vaguely voguish, putatively Hitchkockian hokum before the credits. Astute critics have compared this performance with the one Law gave in the 2004 film I Heart Huckabees, where he played a shallow business exec in psychic meltdown. “The de-smugging of Jude Law is yet again a dramatic motor to swear by,” wrote the Daily Telegraph. Quite so: seeing Dr Jude losing his Brit cool when wrong-footed by faux-innocent Rooney Mara or handbagged by crackers shrink Catherine Zeta-Jones is worth the price of admission alone.

We’re sitting in a conference room at the Guardian in London’s Kings Cross. For an hour his PR chaperones have left him alone with the clown who once inadvertently cycled into the canal we can see from the window. If Law sacks his minders later, that would be understandable.

Between us is a pill bottle whose label says it contains 20mg capsules of a new antidepressant called Ablixa. Perhaps if the media inquisition gets too much, you could neck some, even if the directions explicitly state “Take ONE daily” and warn that side-effects include sleepwalking and insomnia. “But they look like Smarties!” says Law. That’s because they are Smarties. The PR people for Side Effects, which deals with the perils of prescription drugs, handed out the bottles at the press screening the night before. Nice gag. One could barely concentrate on the final credits for the rattling of antidepressants as the hacks scrambled out of the cinema.

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Jude answered questions from the media on his latest film, ‘Side Effects’ at the Apple Store Regent Street on February 27th in London, England. Photos from the event can be seen in our gallery.

‘Side Effects’ star Jude Law chats with SheKnows about his role as an ambitious psychiatrist and what he’s doing personally to better himself.

Jude’s character in Side Effects believes that prescription pills are the answer to whatever ails you.

“I was intrigued by his absolute devotion and belief in medicine,” Jude told SheKnows at the press day for the movie in Los Angeles. “He’s someone who has worked very hard to get where he is, and to get as successful and effective as he is. It’s almost like a religion to him. He has a great faith in medicine being the answer. People that have that kind of faith are incredibly inspiring.”

In his own life though, Jude is turning to more holistic methods to improve his mood. The actor, who just turned 40 in December, told us he’s trying to expand his hobbies right now.

“An age with a zero on the end of it is always a good time to stop and address what you want to happen and what you want to do with yourself,” Jude told SheKnows. “I have certain ambitions — most of them have to do with making myself a wholer, happier person. Yoga is involved and evolving my hobbies a little bit more, doing stuff for myself.”

Eating right is clearly important to Jude, too, as he ordered a tuna Niçoise salad before the interview. And when SheKnows suggested he throw in the butternut squash soup, he was all over it as well!

Jude Law and Rooney Mara talk about working with Steven Soderbergh on his last film, “Side Effects.”

The world of psychopharmacology is a tricky one to navigate, and one that Jude Law got first-hand experience with playing Dr. Jonathan Banks in Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects. In the story, the character not only faces accusations of moral misdoings when it comes to treating his patients – facing serious questions after use of a drug he prescribed leads to a violent episode – but is even shown to be a user himself. So how did the actor start looking through the eyes of Dr. Banks? With faith in psychopharmaceuticals.

CinemaBlend.com had the pleasure of sitting down with Jude to talk about taking on the project, what he believes the film has to say, and the importance of keeping a performance genuine.

When did you first get involved with this film, because I know that you worked with both Steven Soderbergh and Scott Z. Burns on Contagion before this.
I read it when I had just done Contagion just because Scott and I got on very well and he wanted me to read some of his stuff. And then Steven got involved and I ended up getting a call at the beginning of the year… no, it was over Christmas break, actually, and I got on-board.

Was it something that he mentioned while you were making Contagion or…
No, no, Steven wasn’t involved by that point. He got involved later. I read it and I knew it… but they tweaked it a little bit.

How did they change it?
Just little things about order. When you got to see about [Rooney Mara’s character]’s life – her past life with her husband and all that stuff. Subtle changes.

So not like an overhaul.
Scott had been working on it for a good eight, nine years – the idea of this project.

The following ‘Side Effects’ clip features on Dr. Johnathan Banks, played by Jude, who is determined to figure out why his life is unraveling before his eyes while his wife (Vinessa Shaw) tries to knock some sense into him. Check out the clip below.