bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

British actor Jude Law on Sunday said he became an “obsessive” watcher of Vladimir Putin as he prepared for his role as the Russian leader in his new film The Wizard of the Kremlin which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Law, 52, bears an uncanny resemblance to Putin, aping his scowl and distinctive walking style in the film by French director Olivier Assayas, which charts the rise of the former intelligence officer.
“There’s a lot of footage one could watch and, personally, when I start going down that rabbit hole, it becomes sort of obsessive,” he told journalists. “You’re looking for ever more, newer material.”
Portraying Putin was a challenge because of his famously deadpan expression, Law said.

“The tricky side to me was that the public face that we see [of Putin], we see very, very little,” Law added. “There’s this mask.”
Law credited his likeness to the real Putin to “an amazing make-up and hair team”, adding that he had no fear of repercussions.
The film, which runs for two-and-a-half hours, is an exhaustive look at Putin’s career muzzling political opponents, cowing oligarchs and enriching his entourage.
It is told through the eyes of a fictional political adviser, Vadim Baranov, played by Paul Dano. It is based on a top-selling book of the same name by Italian author Giuliano da Empoli.
Assayas said it was first and foremost a story about authoritarianism, with Russia’s transition from a chaotic democracy in the late 1990s to Putin’s modern autocracy.

“We made a movie about what politics has become and the very scary and dangerous situation we all feel we are in,” he explained.
Early reviews were mixed. While the Hollywood Reporter praised Law and Dano for their performances, it said the film “gets bogged down in too many characters and events”.
Screen International was more positive, praising “a screenplay dense with incident” and “fast-moving, sleek direction”.
The Wizard of the Kremlin is one of 21 films competing for the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, a major platform for international launches, which runs until Saturday.
Other highlights on Sunday include the premiere of Father Mother Sister Brother, the latest film from independent American director Jim Jarmusch, with a stellar cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and American singer Tom Waits, a regular collaborator.
The Broken Flowers director has called it “a kind of anti-action film”, featuring three separate dysfunctional families in conversation in rural upstate New York, Dublin and Paris.

Jarmusch told reporters he was “disappointed” that the main distributor for the film, art house streaming platform Mubi, had accepted investment from a venture capital fund with links to the Israeli military.
“My relationship with Mubi was started much before that and they were fantastic to work with on this film,” Jarmusch told reporters. “I was, of course, disappointed and quite disconcerted by this relationship.”
Israel’s siege of Gaza has been one of the main talking points in Venice, with thousands signing an open letter denouncing the Israeli government and calling on the festival to speak out more forcefully.
Several thousand anti-war protesters shouting “Stop the genocide!” marched to the entrance of the festival on Saturday for a demonstration called by left-wing political groups in northeast Italy.
Wednesday will see the premiere of The Voice of Hind Rajab about the real-life killing of a six-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza by Israeli forces last year.
Directed by Franco-Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, the production has attracted heavyweight Hollywood support from Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer and Joaquin Phoenix, who have joined as executive producers.
Other in-competition films that have made a mark so far in Venice include Yorgos Lanthimos’s darkly satirical Bugonia starring Oscar-winner Emma Stone, about two conspiracy-obsessed misfits who kidnap a pharmaceutical company CEO.
Opening night feature La Grazia by Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino, about an Italian president grappling with indecision over euthanasia, drew plaudits as has compatriot Gianfranco Rosi’s sumptuous black-and-white documentary about Naples.
Saturday saw Mexican director Guillermo del Toro deliver a new and big-budget adaptation of Frankenstein starring Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation.


No Other Choice? Why Korean auteur Park Chan-wook reunited with Lee Byung-hun for a comedy

Xin Zhilei wins best actress at Venice Film Festival

Xin Zhilei, Venice Film Festival best actress, from poverty to discovery by Donnie Yen team

How Shu Qi drew on her painful childhood for Girl, her directorial debut

Venice Film Festival

Jude Law became ‘obsessive’ Putin watcher for role as Russian leader

Jude Law as Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin. Photo: Cinetic Media via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin. File photo: Reuters

Jude Law on the red carpet in Venice, Italy. Photo: Reuters

US director Jim Jarmusch. Photo: EPA

Thousands protest against Israeli siege of Gaza near Venice Film Festival

Demonstrators hold placards that read “On the red carpet lets sow peace” and “Free Palestine, peace has no borders” during a march in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, during the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Saturday. Photo: Invision/AP

Anti-riot police face protesters at the end of a march in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people at the Venice Lido on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Moroccan director Maryam Touzani (right) on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Friday with her husband, director Nabil Ayouch. Photo: Invision/AP

Venice 2025: After the Hunt movie review – Julia Roberts in Luca Guadagnino’s muddled tale

Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield in a still from After the Hunt, directed by Luca Guadagnino. Ayo Edebiri co-stars. Photo: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

(From left) Julia Roberts, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny in a still from After the Hunt. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios

Venice 2025: Frankenstein movie review – Guillermo del Toro’s definitive monster tale

Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in a still from Frankenstein. Photo: Ken Woroner/Netflix

Oscar Issac in a still from Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro. Jacob Elordi and Christoph Waltz co-star. Photo: Ken Woroner/Netflix

Jacob Elordi in a still from Frankenstein. Photo: Ken Woroner/Netflix

Mia Goth in a still from Frankenstein. Photo: Ken Woroner/Netflix

Russia’s Vladimir Putin vows to deepen China ties, slams ‘distortion’ of WWII history

Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Kremlin on May 9, on the occasion of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations. Photo: Reuters

Putin would have ‘played’ Trump if he doesn’t meet Ukraine’s Zelensky, Macron says

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. Photo: AP

French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold a joint news conference in Toulon, France, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

News

World

Europe

Culture

Film & TV

Lifestyle

Entertainment

British actor Jude Law debuts portrayal of Russia’s president in ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ at the Venice Film Festival


British actor Jude Law debuts portrayal of Russia’s president in ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ at the Venice Film Festival.


Jude Law became ‘obsessive’ Putin watcher for role as Russian leader

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}British actor Jude Law debuts portrayal of Russia’s president in ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ at the Venice Film Festival

British actor Jude Law debuts portrayal of Russia’s president in ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ at the Venice Film Festival