First PHOTOS of Jude Law as Putin emerge
The film follows the story of a fictional political operative, presumably loosely based on former Putin aide Vladislav Surkov, who helps the Russian leader rise to power.
The image, shared on Tuesday by Novaya Gazeta Europe, shows Law wearing a dark suit on a stage in Riga, Latvia while surrounded by extras.
'The Wizard of the Kremlin' focuses on Vadim Baranov, a fictional former avant-garde artist-turned TV producer who becomes the chief political adviser to a rising figure within Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) – soon revealed as Vladimir Putin in the 1990s.
EXCLUSIVE: First photos of Jude Law as Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas' The Wizard of the Kremlin, a movie about 1990s Russia currently being filmed in Riga.📷: Novaya Gazeta Europe
pic.twitter.com/OPm25Ygycu
— Novaya Gazeta Europe (@novayagazeta_en)
March 25, 2025
'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,'
the film's synopsis reads.
The film is based on Giuliano da Empoli's bestseller novel of the same name, published in April 2022. That year, it won the Grand prix du roman de l'Academie francaise.
Read more
Breaking barriers: How Yura Borisov earned his place at the Oscars
Though Baranov is a fictional character, he is considered to be modeled after Vladislav Surkov, a former aide to Putin who served as deputy prime minister and a senior official in the presidential administration, and is often described as the Kremlin's 'gray cardinal'.
He is also known as a proponent of 'sovereign democracy', the idea of building a strong state with a focus on the material well-being of the population. More recently, he has predicted the expansion of the 'Russian world' as well as a rapprochement between Moscow and the West.
Commenting on the upcoming film, Surkov said,
'No one is safe from this.'
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that no one contacted the Russian authorities about the film, and that the Kremlin did not know the exact plot of the story.
READ MORE:
Shakespeare museum to be 'decolonized' over 'white supremacy' claims – Telegraph
Law is no stranger to portraying Russian or Russian-linked figures. In 'Enemy at the Gates' (2001), he played renowned Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev in a dramatization of the Battle of Stalingrad. He also starred in 'Anna Karenina' (2012) as Aleksey Karenin, a senior government official in Imperial Russia. Law also played Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes franchise opposite Robert Downey Jr., and received critical acclaim for playing a manipulative pontiff in The Young Pope series.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
3 hours ago
- Russia Today
Israeli settlers attacked Russian diplomats
A Russian diplomatic vehicle was attacked last week by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, resulting in mechanical damage, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. She added that Russia considers the incident a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. According to Zakharova, the incident occurred on July 30 near the illegal Israeli settlement of Giv'at Asaf, located just east of Ramallah and about 20 kilometers north of Jerusalem. She said the settlers also shouted threats at the diplomats. The spokeswoman slammed the Israeli military's failure to intervene, denouncing their inaction 'particularly puzzling.' 'The Israeli Defense Force soldiers didn't even bother to try and stop the attackers' aggressive actions,' she said. The vehicle was carrying members of Russia's diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority, who are also accredited with Israel's Foreign Ministry, according to Moscow. 'We regard this incident as a blatant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,' Zakharova said, adding that the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv has submitted an official note to the Israeli authorities. Last month, the Kremlin reiterated that the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. 'Russia has always adhered to a two-state solution as the basis for resolving the Palestinian issue,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Moscow's recognition dates back to 1988, when the Soviet Union endorsed the Palestinian declaration of independence. The statement comes amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which began in October of 2023 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel left around 1,200 people dead. Israel's military response has since killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the enclave, and has drawn global criticism for its scale of destruction and civilian casualties.
Russia Today
10 hours ago
- Russia Today
Moscow comments on collapse of arms control treaty with US
Russia has the right to deploy ground-based intermediate-range missiles 'when deemed necessary,' following the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the US, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Moscow had previously opted not to station such weapons in certain regions unless the US and its allies did so first. On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the 'actions of Western countries' had made Moscow's adherence to the moratorium no longer viable as they were creating a 'direct threat' to Russia's security. When asked by journalists to comment on Tuesday, Peskov said Russia 'no longer has any limitations in this regard' and 'no longer considers itself bound by anything.' Moscow reserves the right to deploy such missiles 'when deemed necessary,' he added. The Kremlin spokesman did not elaborate on whether decisions on potential missile deployments had already been taken. 'One can hardly expect any announcements here,' Peskov said, describing it as a question of national defense and 'a sensitive and secretive field.' The INF Treaty between the US and the USSR banned ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500-5,500km. It collapsed in 2019 when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Donald Trump's first presidential term. The US justified the move by citing alleged Russian violations. Moscow has vehemently denied the claims, accusing the US itself of developing banned missiles. Russia subsequently called on NATO and the US to exercise restraint and refrain from deploying such systems as it announced its own moratorium on their deployment. Last year, Moscow warned it could lift the moratorium after the US announced plans to deploy long-range weapons in Germany in 2026. On Monday, the Foreign Ministry also cited the deployment of a Typhon missile launcher in the Philippines by the US last year as one of the reasons behind the policy change.
Russia Today
11 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ukrainian plot to assassinate Russian defense industry leader derailed
Russian agents have arrested a man accused of plotting to assassinate a general director of a defense industry enterprise on behalf of Ukraine, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said. The suspect also reportedly admitted he had been spying on the Russian army since last summer. In a statement on Tuesday, the FSB said that a Russian national had made contact with a representative of an unnamed pro-Ukrainian terrorist group via Telegram. He was ordered to travel to Bryansk Region which borders Ukraine, to recover a drone-dropped cache containing firearms and explosives, the agency said. The weapons were intended for use in an assassination attempt on the head of a defense industrial facility in Belgorod, the FSB said. The suspect is now charged with high treason and faces up to life in prison. The FSB also released a video in which the man confesses that since June 2024, while serving with Russian forces on the conflict frontline in Ukraine's Kharkov Region, he relayed to Kiev data on the whereabouts of Russian army personnel and hardware as well as positions of electronic warfare and air defense systems. In addition, he confessed to coordinating Ukrainian missile and artillery attacks and transmitting photographs and contact information of Russian military personnel. The footage released by the FSB also shows the agency's operatives driving up to the suspect in a minivan in a rural area. Within moments, the man, who is carrying a large backpack, is seen being pinned to the ground. Another part of the video shows a forest stash containing what appears to be explosives and a handgun. Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of organizing multiple sabotage and assassination attempts on Russian territory in recent months, including attacks targeting military commanders and other high-profile figures.
