Actor Jude Law after portraying Putin: I wasn’t afraid of the consequences…and I hope I wasn’t naive.
The British actor plays the current Russian president in the film, which chronicles Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in the early 1990s amid the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union
The world premiere of “The Wizard of the Kremlin” at the Venice Film Festival is scheduled for Sunday. French director Olivier Assayas’s film, in which British actor Jude Law plays Russian President Vladimir Putin, is scheduled for Sunday.
Jude Law said he is not worried about Russian President Putin’s reaction to the film.
“I hope I’m not being naive, but I’m not afraid of the consequences,” 52-year-old Jho Low was quoted as saying at a press conference in Venice on Sunday, the German news agency dpa reported
English-language film is based on the book of the same name by Giuliano da Empoli and chronicles the rise of the Russian president to power alongside a fictional advisor named Vadim Baranov, played by Paul Dano. The film takes place in the early 1990s, amidst the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The character of Danu was inspired by real-life politician Vladislav Surkov, the architect of the political system established under Putin and founder of the presidential party United Russia. Surkov resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in 2013.
“I was confident that I was in the hands of (director) Olivier (Assayas), and the script was a story that would be told intelligently and accurately,” Law said
We weren’t looking for controversy for controversy’s sake,” Lowe added. “She’s a character in a larger story. We weren’t trying to define anything about anyone.”
This is the first time an actor of this caliber has portrayed the Kremlin’s powerful man on screen. For his role, Jude Law wears a wig, adopts the Kremlin Lord’s facial expressions, and has trained in judo. “It’s amazing what you can do with a good wig,” he jokes.
He said he initially didn’t know much about Vladimir Putin’s life and personality, relying on the many photos and videos of him that were circulating. He added that “it became almost like an obsession” at some point, as the actor constantly sought out “newer material.”
As for Assayas, he wanted to assign the role to an actor with “the strength, intelligence, and talent necessary to embody the character without resembling Vladimir Putin.” The French director explained that “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is a film about “the transformations of politics.”
