Jude Law had no qualms about portraying the ruthless Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas‘ new film “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” which premieres on Sunday at Venice Film Festival.
“I hope not naively, but I didn’t fear repercussions. I felt confident, in the hands of Olivier and the script, that this story was going to be told intelligently and with nuance and consideration,” Law said on Sunday afternoon at the movie’s official press conference. “We weren’t looking for controversy for controversy’s sake. It’s a character in a broader story. We weren’t trying to define anything about anyone.
Adapted from Giuliano da Empoli’s 2022 best-selling book by the same name, “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is a fictional account of Putin’s ascent to power amid post-Soviet chaos and his relationship with spin doctor Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano). Though the latter isn’t a real person, he’s inspired by Vladislav Sourkov, a real-life fixer who’s been credited for playing key role in shaping Putin’s persona and authoritarian leadership style. Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright, all of whom attended the press conference, round out the cast.
Law altered his appearance but chose to use his own voice, rather than donning a thick Russian accent, to embody Putin.
“Olivier and I discussed this wasn’t to be an interpretation of Putin and he didn’t want me to hide behind a mask of prosthetics. We worked with an amazing makeup and hair team and had reference of that period in Putin’s life. We tried to find a familiarity on me,” Law said. “It’s amazing what a great wig can do.”
Dano, meanwhile, was interested in exploring the internal rather than external of his character.
“I don’t think you need to look for a positive but you need to be willing to discover the point of the character. If you were to just label a character like Baranov bad, it would be a massive simplification that would do more bad than good,” Dano said. “We need to be asking ‘why?’”
Assayas, asked whether he believes that Russia rules the world, succinctly replied: “That’s an easy one. The answer is no.”
Although, yes, the film imagines the origins of Putin, the director elaborated that he envisions “The Wizard of the Kremlin” as a cautionary tale about the “transformation of politics during our lifetime.”
“The film is very much about how modern politics were invented. Part of that evil raised from the rise of power of Vladimir Putin in Russia,” Assayas said. “We made a movie about what politics has become and the scary and dangerous situation that we all feel we’re in. It applies to a lot of authoritarian leaders.”
The story has heightened relevance amid Russia’s continued full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin has been in the news lately after meeting with President Donald Trump, who has been working to cobble together a peace deal between the two nations.
More to come…
