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NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Tye Sheridan says he wanted to star in the new film, The Order, because it is a thriller steeped in reality. Opening in theaters Friday, the movie follows law-enforcement officers -- Sheridan's Jamie Bowen, Jude Law's Terry Husk and Jurnee Smollett's Joanne Carney -- as they try to bring down Nicholas Hoult's Bob Mathews, the leader of a White-supremacist group that robs banks to fund domestic terrorism in the Pacific Northwest.
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"The movie has a lot of universal themes. It's based on a true story. It takes place in the mid-1980s about a group of guys who spun out of the Aryan Nation and started this White-supremacist group. They're trying to start a revolution and overthrow the government," Sheridan, 28, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"It's about the law-enforcement officers who are trying to stop the guys. It's kind of like classic 'good guys versus bad guys,'" the Mud, Ready Player One and X-Men alum said.
"The story feels like it's a propulsive thriller that feels cut from the same cloth as the movies that I absolutely love and grew up loving, which were made in the 1970s and '80s. It just felt like it's got something deeper resonating. It just felt like an amazing opportunity."
As the story unfolds, Jamie is a rookie police officer working in the small town in which he has lived all of his life when FBI Agent Terry Husk arrives to seek help with an investigation.
While Jamie's fellow cops have no interest in messing with the racist criminals who live on the outskirts of town, Jamie jumps at the chance to help Terry bring them to justice.
"He is a young deputy at the sheriff's department in this town he grew up in, and that's where all this is taking place," Sheridan said.
"So, all these guys that he knew growing up, that he went to high school with and played sports with, they have now joined the Aryan Nation and started this group," he added.
"The catalyst moment is Terry Husk, Jude's character, coming in and the two of them coming together and Jamie, my character, telling him everything that he knows."
On the personal side, young husband and father Jamie sees Terry, who is divorced and estranged from his kids, as a cautionary tale, while Terry sees Jamie himself in years past.
"It's like Terry is kind of looking in a mirror. He's looking back in time at himself 25 years ago," Sheridan said. "He's maybe the kind of person who's put his work before his life. I think he's starting to see that in Jamie toward the end of the film."
Sheridan said he thinks the film spotlights the dangers police and other investigators face whenever they go to work, as well as the personal toll the job takes on their home lives.
"It's an ode to law-enforcement officers everywhere and the sacrifices that they have to make, that their families have to make for them to serve law and order and protect our, not only communities, but our nation -- especially in a case like this where it has to do with domestic terrorism," Sheridan said.
Given the subject matter, the film goes to some dark places, and Sheridan said he was was happy to have Law beside him to share the emotional heavy lifting.
"He's extremely talented, obviously, and somebody I have admired for many years," Sheridan said.
"Just to be able to work closely with him, to see his process, how much preparation and work goes into his craft and the dedication that he has to his craft, was really an honor," Sheridan added.
"I just completely admired that. He's a great collaborator. He's trying to make everyone else around him as best as they can be, and I absolutely loved working with him. I hope we get to do it again in the future."
Directed by Justin Kurzel, the film co-stars Alison Oliver and Marc Maron.
