Hollywood star Jude Law is the spitting image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, which had its world premier at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday in the Competition segment.
Directed by Olivier Assayas, the early 1990s-set film is based on Giuliano Da Empoli's 2022 novel of the same name. It follows the journey of a fictional filmmaker Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) who becomes the spin doctor to a rising KGB agent, Vladimir Putin.
How Baranov shapes the new Russia, blurring the boundaries between truth and lies, belief and manipulation forms the core plot. Years later, after retreating into silence and shrouded in mystery, Baranov finally opens up, revealing the dark secrets of the regime he helped build.
At the press conference for the film, Jude Law revealed he became an obsessive Vladimir Putin watcher to prepare for his role.
"There was a lot of footage one could watch. When I start going down that rabbit hole, it becomes obsessive; you're looking for more, newer material.
"The tricky side to me was that the public face we see gives very, very little away. There has been a term for him and that is 'the man without a face'. There's a mask. Understandably, Olivier would want me to portray this or that in a scene with a certain emotion, and I felt the conflict of trying to show very little," Jude Law said as quoted by The Guardian.
The actor said everything about playing the longtime Russian president during his rise to power was a revelation. "I knew very little about him, so he became a subject to learn more and more about. It's about the rebuilding of the sense of self, after a huge humiliation. That was key not just to the broader picture we were portraying."
Jude Law also said he "didn't fear repercussions" about playing Vladimir Putin in the film.
"I felt confident in the hands of Olivier Assayas and the script. This was a story that was going to be told intelligently. We weren't looking for controversy for controversy's sake. It's a character within a much broader story - we weren't trying to define anything about anyone," he added.
The Wizard of the Kremlin also stars Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Will Keen and Jeffrey Wright.
The Venice Film Festival will come to a close on September 6, 2025.
