27-03-2025
Jude Law to play Putin in new biopic
Jude Law has transformed into Vladimir Putin in the first images of the actor filming a new biopic.
The Bafta award-winner, 52, is playing the Russian president at the start of his political career in Olivier Assayas's new film The Wizard of the Kremlin.
The film is based on a best-selling novel of the same name by Italian-Swiss writer Giuliano da Empoli.
Law, who has recently starred as Henry VIII in Firebrand, previously told Deadline his role as Putin 'looks like an Everest to climb'.
The new on-set photographs show Law wearing a black overcoat with a suit and tie standing with actors who appear to be playing members of an Arab delegation.
The film's plot follows the Russian president's political rise in the early 1990s, in the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapse, through the story of the man who helped him cement his hold on power. The fictional character, named Vladimir Baranov, is based on former Kremlin spin doctor Vladislav Surkov.
The synopsis reads: 'Working at the heart of Russian power, Baranov blurs truth with lies, the news with propaganda, directing the entire society like one great reality show.
'Only his love for the magnetic, free-minded Ksenia can turn him away from this dangerous game.'
Baranov will be played by Academy Award nominee Paul Dano, who has starred in critically acclaimed films There Will Be Blood and Love and Mercy.
Starring alongside Dano and Law will be Oscar-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who worked with Law on Firebrand in 2023.
Speaking ahead of filming, director Assayas said The Wizard of the Kremlin 'is about trying to make sense of the chaos that is transforming our world in the strangest, most disturbing ways'.
He added: 'Beyond the passions of men navigating the dangerous fluxes of modern politics, we see the powerful cinematic sweep of history in the making.'
