Jude Law reveals 'stinky method' he adopted for Henry VIII movie

Jude Law has revealed the "stinky method" he adopted for his new Henry VIII movie.

The actor went to extreme lengths to create on-set realism while shooting his new movie Firebrand, even wearing a perfume with faecal and blood notes to create disgust in his co-stars.

"I learned that Henry had this stench because of his rotten legs," Jude, 51, told People magazine, "and I just thought it'd be an interesting addition for those around me who had to faun over him and do his every desire (while) also sort of holding back this retch."

He explained set of the film, about the life of King Henry VIII, was made to feel as authentic to the original time period as possible.

"Sometimes we had rooms we'd leave the windows open so it was very cold so we'd wrap up in our furs," he revealed. "Always animals present, which was true to the time, so me smelling bad was just an addition to that."

Jude referred to his Firebrand acting technique as "a stinky method", adding the film's director Karim Aïnouz was a stickler for historical realism.

"Karim creates what I call a 360-degree environment to acting, you don't know where the camera is, it's all sort of set up shots, it builds a world," he said. "So the scent was a big part of that, we wanted it to smell and feel real."