Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
Justin Kurzel’s political thriller The Order will open the Zurich Film Festival in October with its star Jude Law in attendance alongside the director to receive the event’s Golden Eye Award for his performance and career.
Law plays a FBI agent who dismantles a far-right terrorist cell in the movie, which recently world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and then made its North American debut at Toronto.
The actor will be presented with the award at the Zurich gala premiere for The Order on October 3. ‘Jude Law is an absolute dream guest’, says Zurich Film Festival Artistic Director Christian Jungen. “He is not only the leading actor in the thriller The Order, which he carries from A to Z with his charisma, but also the producer. “Although the film is set in 1983, it revolves around the machinations of right-wing extremist circles in the USA and is therefore highly topical.
On the Opening Night, we will be awarding Jude Law a Golden Eye for his career and the great performance in this film – the perfect prelude to a glamorous and significant anniversary edition.” Across his career, Law has worked with renowned directors such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Sally Potter, Wong Kar-Wai, Terry Gilliam, David Cronenberg, Brady Corbett, Antony Minghella, Paolo Sorrentino, Ron Howard and Wes Anderson.
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