The stars of The Order are very aware that their forthcoming thriller film, although set in the 1980s, tackles themes that feel as relevant as ever.

Director Justin Kurzel’s fact-based crime movie is set to hit theaters Dec. 6 from Vertical after premiering over the summer at the Venice Film Festival. Starring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Jurnee Smollett and Tye Sheridan, the film follows an FBI agent (Law) investigating a white supremacist group called the Order and its possible connection to a string of robberies and other crimes in the Pacific Northwest.

Law, Hoult and Smollett took part in an onstage panel conversation about the project following a screening organized by SAG-AFTRA in Los Angeles on Tuesday. During the chat, Law, who is also a producer for The Order, discussed the contemporary resonance for the film that screenwriter Zach Baylin adapted from authors Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s 1989 nonfiction book The Silent Brotherhood.

“It was a terrific script with so much potential: the relevance; the timely nature of the themes within it; the fact that, in many ways, it’s oddly a sort of origin of where we are now, which we thought was a good way of investigating it without being too heavy-handed,” Law told the crowd. “Then, of course, it is folded into a genre movie. And that was something, when we got our director Justin Kurzel onboard, that became really apparent. He was very clear that he wanted to lean into the genre of the thriller and the cat-and-mouse element, but really elevate it through character and through truth and storytelling.”

Indeed, the film — hitting theaters roughly a month after the U.S. presidential election — feels particularly of the moment, arriving at a time of increased debate surrounding the espousing of racist views on social media and the support that former President Donald Trump receives from neo-Nazis and hate groups. This screening coincidently took place days after reports of a Trump-themed boat parade held Sunday in Florida, during which boaters displayed swastika flags and cheered for the presidential candidate who is set to face Vice President Kamala Harris in the election.

“It starts so young, this level of brainwashing, this us-against-them mentality,” Smollett said about the film depicting young people being encouraged to spread hate. “It starts at infancy, and yes, we can look at where we are now in our nation and go, ‘How did we get here?’ But it’s unfortunately been in our fabric since our nation was founded. It continues to be perpetuated because it’s a disease we haven’t dug out.”

The actress also noted the continued influence of the 1978 novel The Turner Diaries, written under pseudonym by the leader of a white nationalist group and depicted in the movie as being revered by the Order.

“That book was found on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6th,” shared Smollett, referencing the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building by Trump supporters. “It’s unfortunately quite relevant today.”

Additionally, the cast recalled Kunzel’s memorable tactics for helping to ratchet up the tension, with Hoult — who portrays Order leader Bob Matthews — explaining that the director kept him from meeting Law in person until their first scene together.

“We’d shot for three, maybe four, weeks before that,” Hoult said. “It added to the energy on set, where I’d get a little buzz. The crew loved keeping us separate, and everyone was like, ‘Jude’s going over here. Keep Nick [away!]’ It got me all jazzed up.”

In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, film critic Jordan Mintzer dubbed The Order “a gripping, superbly made historical thriller.” He also wrote, “The Order is the kind of tense reflection on American violence that Hollywood rarely puts on the big screen anymore.”