Oscar nominee Jude Law is set to portray Russian president Vladimir Putin in the upcoming political thriller movie The Wizard of the Kremlin. It is based on the 2022 bestselling debut novel by Giuliano da Empoli.
During a recent interview, Law revealed that he hasn’t started preparing for his role in The Wizard of the Kremlin due to how daunting the task is.
“I say that hesitatingly because I haven’t really started work on it yet,” Law shared (via Deadline). “I mean, I have, but at the moment it looks like an Everest to climb, so I’m in the foothills looking up thinking, ’Oh Christ, what have I said?’ That’s often how I feel whilst I say yes. I was going, ’Oh God, how am I going to do this?’ But anyway, that’s for me to sort out.”
What is The Wizard of the Kremlin about?
The Wizard of the Kremlin will be directed by acclaimed French filmmaker Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria, Irma Vep), who co-wrote the screenplay with Emmanuel Carrère. The movie will also be led by Alicia Vikander, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Zach Galifianakis, and Tom Sturridge. It is produced by Olivier Delbosc, with Yorick Le Saux serving as the director of photography.
The novel’s synopsis reads: “Known as the ‘Wizard of the Kremlin,’ the enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming a political advisor to Putin, aka ‘The Czar.’ After his resignation from this position, legends about him multiply, with no one able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, when he tells his story to the narrator of this book…
He immerses us in the heart of the Russian state, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime’s main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secrets of the regime he has helped create, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.”
