Official premiere of Olivier Assayas’ film Wizard of the Kremlin He is released, and more of Jude Law’s bizarre transformation into Russian leader Vladimir Putin is revealed.
The political drama charts Putin’s rise to global player with the help of scheming doctor Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano plays a character inspired by Vladislav Surkov, widely considered the “gray cardinal” of Russian politics). The trailer depicts Baranov convincing Putin of his cynical approach to geopolitical affairs, aiming to “sow chaos” and “build the myth that the Russians control the modern world.”
Although much of the talk about the film before its release was about Law’s portrayal of a younger Putin, including a wig, the film actually revolves around Dano’s character, as seen in the trailer.
The film stars Alicia Vikander, Will Kane, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright. Assayas is directing the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Emmanuel Carrere, adapted from the book of the same name. By Giuliano da Empoli.
Wizard of the Kremlin It premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it was warmly received. Writing after the film’s debut in Venice, Hollywood ReporterThe film critic was more circumspect about the film in his review. “Assayas’ film moves quickly, from the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s to the 2014 invasion of Crimea, with the director applying a fluid, understated style as he leaps between offices, hotels, palaces, forests, and streets in Moscow, London, and other capitals,” they wrote. “But things tend to get muddled the more he slows down and tries to create real drama or memorable characters, at which point The Wizard of the Kremlin seems hackneyed and interpretive, as if the actors were reciting lines from a totalitarian playbook.”
Vertical has acquired the North American rights to it Wizard of the Kremlin It plans to release the film in theaters on May 15.
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