No holiday season is complete without a rerun of the Jude Law-starrer 2006 romcom The Holiday. The Academy Award-nominated actor, who was recently honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the iconic Los Angeles street, now has an extraordinary and challenging task at hand. He’s all set to play Russian President Vladimir Putin in French filmmaker Olivier Assayas’ upcoming movie The Wizard of the Kremlin, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s debut novel having the same name.
The 52-year-old BAFTA Award winner will be seen in a supporting role in the film, portraying the now 72-year-old Putin “at the beginning of his governing career”. Speaking during an interview with Deadline, Jude said, “I haven’t really started work on it yet. I mean, I have, but at the moment it looks like an Everest to climb, so I’m in the foothills looking up thinking, ’Oh Christ, what have I said?’ That’s often how I feel whilst I say yes. I was going, ’Oh God, how am I going to do this?’ But anyway, that’s for me to sort out.”
According to reports, the cast of The Wizard of the Kremlin includes Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander and Zach Galifianakis. Paul is likely to essay the protagonist, Vadim Baranov. The plot follows ‘a young Russian filmmaker, who becomes an unlikely adviser to Putin, as he rises to power in post-Soviet Russia, navigating the new era’s complexities and chaos’.
Jude is known for his stellar performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999),A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Closer (2004), My Blueberry Nights (2007), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Captain Marvel (2019), Contagion (2011), Hugo (2011), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Spy (2015), The Young Pope (2016), The New Pope (2020) and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024). Recently, he was also seen in Justin Kurzel’s Canadian action-thriller film The Order.
