Jude Law is the latest actor to sit down with Vanity Fair and break down his career in one of those fascinating lengthy interviews, and during the discussion he had one particularly funny story to share about making The Holiday. The Nancy Meyers film is quite beloved, especially at Christmastime, and Law says it’s one of the films from his career that people talk to him about the most. But there’s a detail about his character that some may not have picked up on: his skin tone changes wildly throughout the movie. Well, there’s a reason for that.

Law recalled how they shot the film’s exteriors in the U.K., then production moved to Los Angeles to film all the interior scenes. And, well, Nancy Meyers is a rather meticulous director:

“We shot the exteriors in the UK first. It was freezing. For whatever reason, all the interiors—the UK interiors too—were filmed in the studios here in L.A., so we all moved to L.A. Nancy has the reputation—well I don’t know if she does anymore, but she has the reputation for taking her time (laughs). I’m sat in my house waiting for five weeks before they get to me. As you can probably see, if I look at the sun I go very brown very quickly. My father is very dark-sinned. And if you watch that film carefully, when I’m outside in England I’m really white and pasty, and as soon as I go inside I’m like, ‘Hey!’ and I’ve got this suntan (laughs). No one really notices, but if you watch I darken by about two shades every time I step inside and out.”

Oh we noticed, Jude. We noticed.

The full 24-minute interview is well worth a watch as Law also recalls how he first turned Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella down for The Talented Mr. Ripley, talks about working with Steven Spielberg on A.I. and fanboying over Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel, and discusses a supremely underrated film of his: Gattaca. Check it out below.

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Image via Sony Pictures