Jude Law maturing into happiness

Jan 25, 2010, 16:52 GMT

Jude Law is looking forward to no longer playing Hollywood hearthrobs when he reaches 40.

The 37-year-old actor says he is reaching the end of his screen hunk status and it's up to younger actors to take over the mantle.

He said: "I think it will be interesting to be old. It involves a lot of

possibilities. The future doesn't frighten me at all. On the contrary, I am looking forward to it.

"If I have a look around at the moment I feel great relief because finally others are entering the limelight. Men like Robert Pattinson must now play the Adonis. For me it was always a restraint, a restriction."

Jude - who has reconciled his romance with one-time fiancee Sienna Miller - insists he never wanted to be known as a heartthrob and felt the female attention he attracted hampered his career.

The 'Alfie' actor said: "My goal was always to be recognised as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

"When you suddenly appear on the scene and you are the new

face, everything centres on you. I experienced this in my mid-20s and I found it rather hard."

Jude isn't only looking forward to hitting 40, he is also excited about getting even older.

When asked what the best thing about getting older was, he joked to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper: "That you can take a nap whenever you want and that you can finally say everything you really want to say."