Jude Law has said he is not worried about playing Vladimir Putin in the political drama The Wizard of the Kremlin, expressing confidence in the director Olivier Assayas and the script. Speaking at a press conference before the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, the Bafta-winning actor said he hoped not naively that there would be no repercussions from portraying the Russian leader.
The film, an adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli's bestselling book, centres on Vadim Baranov, a scheming Russian spin doctor played by Paul Dano, who smooths Putin's ascent to power in the 1990s. The character was inspired by real-life fixer Vladislav Surkov. Law said the production was not seeking controversy for its own sake, but rather telling an intelligent and nuanced story within a broader narrative.
Law admitted that portraying Putin presented challenges, describing him as “the man without a face” whose tightly controlled public image reveals little. “There’s a mask,” he said, explaining the conflict of trying to show very little while fulfilling the director’s cues for specific emotions.
The film marks Assayas’s English-language debut and co-stars Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright. Its release, three years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, has prompted questions about contemporary geopolitics. Assayas said the film explores how 21st-century politics was shaped, including through Putin’s rise. Wright reflected on the dangers of authoritarianism, noting that while America has its own flaws, it has historically held an ideal of striving to be better.
Separately on Sunday, American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch criticised distributor Mubi over its new investor with ties to the Israeli military, despite praising the company’s work on his film Father Mother Sister Brother, which premiered at Venice. Jarmusch said he was “disappointed and disconcerted” by the relationship, describing all corporate money as “dirty money” while defending his decision to continue making films.
