Jude Law is mistaken for car thief

Jude Law has enjoyed sizable roles in some prominent movies lately, like the current ”The Road to Perdition,” last year’s ”A.I.,” and ”The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Still, he’s not recognizable to everybody, as he discovered in a parking lot in Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday. Getting into a rental car at the Bucharest airport, he was confronted by a Romanian politician who thought the actor was trying to steal a car belonging to the official’s family, the Associated Press reports.

Turns out the pol had the right car but the wrong man. Dinu Patriciu, a senator and leading member of the opposition Liberal Party, saw Law and his bodyguard get into a familiar Land Rover and shouted at the pair. According to E!, Patriciu recognized the car as belonging to his brother. After the bodyguard separated the Romanian politician and the British actor, Law produced rental papers, confirming that the car had been rented from a mechanic who had bought the SUV from Patriciu’s brother. Apologies were made, no one was hurt, and no charges were filed.

Still, the senator’s feathers were ruffled. ”I was very unhappy because he started swearing,” Patriciu told AP. ”I am not a native English speaker, but I understood what he was saying. He kept telling me that he had come to bring money to the country. Later, I was told he was a Hollywood star.”

Maybe he didn’t recognize Law because the actor had grown a beard; he was in the country to shoot scenes for his starring role as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War for ”Cold Mountain,” the adaptation of the Charles Frazier best-seller being directed by ”Ripley”’s Anthony Minghella. Later this summer, the production will move to what would seem to be a more fitting location, North Carolina. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the locals there will be any more likely to recognize Law.