Jude Law debuts portrayal of Vladimir Putin in ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ at Venice Film Festival

VENICE Italy AP Jude Law transforms into Vladimir Putin for Olivier Assayas The Wizard of the Kremlin which has its world premiere Sunday at the Venice Film Festival Law disclosed Sunday before the premiere that he didn t enter the project naively and that he also does not fear repercussions for his portrayal I felt safe in the hands of Olivier Law stated This is a story that was going to be stated intelligently with nuance and consideration We weren t looking for debate for conflict s sake Law who wore prosthetics for his transformation announced his Putin is a character in a much larger story We weren t trying to define anything about anyone Law added The film is an adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli s bestselling book of the same name an account of the Russian president s rise to power alongside a fictional adviser called Vadim Baranov who is played by Paul Dano It s partially set in the early s amid post-Soviet chaos and continues through Dano s character was inspired by the real political strategist Vladislav Sourkov who was considered the architect of the tightly controlled political system created under Putin In he resigned his post of deputy prime minister Much of the story is centered on Dano s character recounting his own rise in political maneuvering and the world he helped create The wizard is the person who is in the background so there s a casting of a spell that is happening Dano announced The Wizard of the Kremlin is sure to provoke conversations as Russia s three-year war in Ukraine continues Efforts to stop the fighting with a ceasefire and end Europe s biggest conflict since World War II through a comprehensive peace settlement have made no progress despite intense diplomatic maneuvering The film is very much about how modern politics st-century politics were invented Assayas mentioned What s going on right now is not only terrifying but it s even more terrifying by the fact that we have not discovered the answer The book was written before Russia s full scale invasion of Ukraine but da Empoli declared that even if it s about an earlier period it was right It s still relevant nowadays three years later under different circumstances da Empoli stated The film marks the English language debut for the French filmmaker best known for films like Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper as well as the miniseries Carlos Alicia Vikander who he directed in Irma Vep also co-stars in The Wizard of the Kremlin as Vadim Baranov s on-again-off-again girlfriend Her character the filmmaker noted was supposed to embody freedom This is a story about a lot of men talking in rooms Vikander reported But Olivier informed me that we need a world that shows the women who inhabit it also A female counterpart but a very moral one as well Production took place in Latvia as they couldn t film in Russia Assayas wrote in his director s message that it is not a film about the rise of one man nor is it about the force with which power is imposed or the reinvention of a nation that is both modern and archaic once again under the yoke of totalitarianism Rooted in real contemporary events it is instead a reflection on modern politics or rather the smoke screens behind which it now hides cynical deceptive and toxic He added The Wizard of the Kremlin is not so much a political film as it is a film about politics and the perversity of its methods which now hold us all hostage The film is playing in the main competition with titles like Frankenstein Bugonia The Voice of Hind Rajab La Grazia and No Other Choice also vying for the top prizes including acting and directing awards Winners will be stated on Sept The Wizard of the Kremlin does not yet have a release date in North America Actor Jeffrey Wright who plays the journalist Vadim Baranov is telling his story to made a plea for why the film demands to be seen especially in America Even within the time frame of the original sins of America we had an idea that we could be better This idea that we could aspire toward specific sort of utopian perfectibility Wright commented If that is lost as it is now than we become what we see in this film For more coverage of the Venice Film Festival visit https apnews com hub venice-film-festival Source