Jude Law made custom perfume smelling of ‘blood, fecal matter and sweat’ for role

Jude Law went to great lengths to prepare for his role as Henry VIII in the upcoming film ‘Firebrand’.

The 50-year-old plays the monarch in the film, which shows his final days with his sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr, who is played by Alicia Vikander.

While speaking at a press conference on Monday, Law revealed he made a strong smelling perfume made of “blood, fecal matter and sweat” to channel the stinky king.

“I read several interesting accounts that you could smell Henry three rooms away. His leg was rotting so badly. He hid it with rose oil,” said Law.

“I thought it would have a great impact if I smelt awful.”

Law got some help to create the perfume

Given the strong smells Law went for, he says he found a specialist to make the perfume for him so that he could capture the king’s smell during his final days as he suffered from leg ulcers and swollen ankles.

“She makes wonderful scents, and she also makes awful scents. She somehow came up with this extraordinary variety of blood, fecal matter and sweat,” Law explained, while adding that he started out with small spritzes before going heavy on the perfume.

‘Firebrand’ director Karim Ainouz shook his head as he remembered how Law smelled during production of the film.

“When Jude walked in on set,” he said, “it was just horrible.”

Despite the repugnant smell that likely radiated off him, Law says that he and co-star Vikander actually got along while on set.

“It sounds really twisted because of course we did awful things to each other,” he said. “But my memory is that we were laughing a lot.”

Whatever Law and Vikander did on set seemed to work, as ‘Firebrand’ received an eight-minute standing ovation when it debuted on Sunday.

The applause only stopped when Vikander motioned for the audience to stop so she wouldn’t cry.

The film, which is adopted from the 2013 novel ‘Queen’s Gambit’, has been selected to compete for Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded at Cannes.