Venice Film Festival: Jude Law tackles Putin role without fear

VENICE — Jude Law said on Sunday he did not fear reprisals for playing Russian President Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, a new film premiering at the that offers a chilling, fictionalized look at Mr. Putin’s rise to power.

The Wizard of the Kremlin, directed by France’s Olivier Assayas and also starring Paul Dano, shows Mr. Putin ruthlessly disposing of people who cross his path.

Asked by reporters if he was worried about possible retaliation for taking on the role, Mr. Law said: “I hope not naively, but… I didn’t fear repercussions.”

The British actor added that the film recounted Mr. Putin’s single-minded ascendancy “with nuance and consideration. We weren’t looking for controversy for controversy’s sake.”

Based on a best-selling novel by Giuliano da Empoli, the movie imagines the life of Vadim Baranov, a shadowy Kremlin insider who rises from artist to television producer before becoming a spin doctor to a young Mr. Putin.

From his office in the Kremlin, he crafts narratives that blur truth and propaganda, faith and manipulation, renouncing his values to serve his master who is determined to restore Russia to greatness after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

‘SCARY AND DANGEROUS SITUATION’
Mr. Law said he shunned a strict impersonation of Mr. Putin, but nonetheless tried to capture the essence of the man. “It’s amazing what a great wig can do,” he joked.

“The tricky side was that the public face (of Putin) that we see gives very little away… I felt that conflict of trying to show very little, but feel an awful lot and portray an awful lot from within,” he said.

Mr. Assayas, best known for films such as Carlos (2010) and Personal Shopper (2016), said his latest movie resonated beyond Russia.

“We made a movie about what politics has become and the very scary and dangerous situation we all feel we are in,” he said.

“We took the case of Vladimir Putin, but it applies to many authoritarian leaders. Politics has changed in a major way during our lifetimes, and what’s going on right now is terrifying,” he added.

American actor Jeffrey Wright, who plays a US writer in the movie, said he hoped it would get widely seen in his home country, which he feared might shed its ideals and aspirations.

“If that is lost as it is now, then we become the thing we see in this film,” he said.

Mr. Dano, who plays the main protagonist Baranov, said the project avoided simple moral labels.

“If you were to just label a character bad, it would be a massive oversimplification,” he said. “Asking why, and looking into the gray, even if it’s scary, is better than letting us go further and further into black and white.”

The Wizard of the Kremlin is one of 21 films competing for the prestigious Golden Lion prize, which will be awarded on Sept. 6. — Reuters