Jude Law Is Vladimir Putin in New Trailer – Charm

Jude Law is known for extravagant, and often successful, on-screen transformations. From cheek plumpers for his role as Henry VIII in Firebrand to traditional papal garments in The Young Pope, the Oscar-nominated actor gives it his all for the role. The same can be said for his part as Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, an upcoming dark comedy from French director Olivier Assayas. The film premiered last fall at the Venice Film Festival and was acquired earlier this year by the indie distributor Vertical. The movie comes out in theaters on May 15, but a new trailer gives us a first look at Law as the icy president-to-be before he dominated world headlines.

The film stars Paul Dano (recently defended by much of Hollywood against Quentin Tarantino’s mean missives) as a character based on Vladislav Surkov, a close advisor of Putin who is credited with helping the authoritarian leader cement power in Russia. The trailer begins in snowy Moscow in 1990, a time when Putin was transitioning from serving in the KGB, the Soviet Union’s security agency, to working in politics as an advisor to the mayor of Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg. We see Law in a scene-stealing wig, mimicking the younger Putin’s closely cropped platinum blonde locks, as he sits down to dinner with Dano, who appears to be vetting him for political stardom. Though Law has been heralded for his spot-on look, The Wizard of the Kremlin is mostly about Dano’s character Vadim Baranov, and the behind-the-scenes machinations of Russian politics. At one point, Dano says, “I’ll build the myth that the Russians are controlling the modern world.”

The trailer tracks Law as Putin through various stages of his life, from political debutante to nervous, first-time president to cool-as-a-cucumber world leader. All the while, Dano’s Baranov delivers cynical one-liners about the nature of leadership, declaring: “Politics is the only game worth playing.” Baranov is based on Surkov, a political operative who is credited with creating the “sovereign democracy” ideology that guides Russian politics today. Surkov briefly studied theater, a background that is alluded to in the trailer for The Wizard of the Kremlin. In typical Russian fashion, the real Surkov is thought to be in exile in Hungary after he was investigated for mismanaging funds related to the Ukraine war.

The Wizard of the Kremlin stars Law and Dano, as well as Alicia Vikander, Will Keen, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Italian and Swiss novelist Giuliano da Empoli. The book was praised for its haunting atmosphere, but criticized for its blending of fact and fiction that may prove difficult for most readers to distinguish. The film got a warm reception at the Venice Film Festival, but critics have been a little more divided, with the movie coming in at a low 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. “A dryly witty yet overwrought slow burner, The Wizard of the Kremlin can’t overcome its thin characters, sluggish pacing, and repetitive storytelling,” reads the site’s critical consensus.

Nevertheless, it seems to have Assayas’s signature cool style. The director is no stranger to psychological dramas in cold settings, as seen by his fruitful collaborations with Kristen Stewart, who gained critical acclaim for her work in 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria and in 2016’s Personal Shopper. The Wizard of the Kremlin also sees Assayas reunite with Vikander, who starred in his 2022 HBO miniseries Irma Vep, based on his own 1996 movie of the same name.