Jude Law, Alicia Vikander and Paul Dano attend the 'The Wizard Of The Kremlin' red carpet at the Venice film festival. Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Olivier Assayas' chilling political thriller The Wizard of the Kremlin, starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin and Paul Dano as the Russian president's master propagandist, Vadim Baranov, met a warm embrace at the 82nd Venice Film Festival on Sunday night, drawing the customary standing ovation and hoots of "bravo" inside the water city's Sala Grande cinema. Co-star Alicia Vikander wiped back tears amid the ovation, while director Olivier Assayas worked the crowd, bowing and climbing over the cinema's seats to embrace his collaborators. Directed by the ever-eclectic Assayas, The Wizard of the Kremlin adapts Italian author Giuliano da Empoli's award-winning novel of the same name into a tense political drama about a political spin-master who helps facilitate the rise of Vladimir Putin - and the Russian autocrat's eventual total transformation of his country's politics. Related Stories Movies 'Father Mother Sister Brother' Review: Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver in Jim Jarmusch's Funny, Tender, Astutely Observed Jewel of a Family Triptych Movies 'The Tale of Silyan' Review: Folktale Meets Nonfiction in a Captivating Look at a Struggling Farmer and the Injured Stork He Rescues Although Law's casting as Putin captivated the lion's share of the anticipation heading into the premiere, the film is very much Dano's. The actor stars as a gifted former artist-turned-spin doctor who masterminds propaganda and media manipulation within the Kremlin. Law portrays a younger Putin, depicted as ruthlessly calculating and enigmatic, while Alicia Vikander plays Ksenia, Baranov's lover and moral counterweight. Spanning from the 1990s to the 2000s, the film dramatizes wars, disasters and revolutions through Baranov's eyes, charting his transformation from idealist to ruthless architect of authoritarian power - as well as the personal toll becoming Putin's "wizard" takes on him. Dano's character is based on Vladislav Sourkov, the real-life fixer who's been credited for helping choreograph Putin's ascent. Tom Sturridge plays a Russian private banker, Dimitri Sidorov (based on oligarch, and opposition activist, Mikhail Khodorkovsky), while Jeffrey Wright co-stars as the American academic to whom Baranov tells his story. Law told a press conference earlier in the day in Venice that he didn't fear any real-world "repercussions" for inhabiting Putin and emphasized that his portrayal isn't intended as a direct impersonation. Although the actor's appearance is slightly altered for the part and he nails Putin's body language, Law speaks in his natural voice throughout the film rather than attempting a Russian accent. "Olivier and I discussed that this wasn't to be an impersonation of Putin and he didn't want me to hide behind a mask of prosthetics," Law said. "We worked with an amazing makeup and hair team and had references of that period in Putin's life. We tried to find a familiarity on me." "It's amazing what a great wig can do," he quipped. The Hollywood Reporter's critic weighed in Sunday night with a decidedly mixed review of the film. "Assayas' movie coasts swiftly along, from the fall of the U.S.S.R in the late 1980s to the 2014 invasion of Crimea, with the director applying a fluid, unfussy style as he leaps between offices, hotels, mansions, forests, and streets in Moscow, London and other capitals," they wrote. "But things tend to get muddled whenever he slows down and tries to create real drama or memorable characters, at which point The Wizard of the Kremlin feels clunky and expository, as if the actors were reciting lines from the totalitarian's playbook." Dano spoke with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the Venice Film Festival for a profile about his preparation for his star turn in The Wizard of the Kremlin. "It feels very far from who I am, actually. So I was surprised how compelled I was by it," Dano said about his soft-spoken, quietly commanding portrayal of Baranov. "It was like a new part of me getting tickled and getting awoken and having to work with: how do I lust for power? What's my relationship to power?" The 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Telluride 2025 Telluride Awards Analysis: 'Hamnet,' Chloé Zhao's Pic About the Shakespeares' Love and Loss, Is Talk of Fest Vicky Krieps 'Father Mother Sister Brother' Review: Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver in Jim Jarmusch's Funny, Tender, Astutely Observed Jewel of a Family Triptych Business Features Summer Box Office Clobbered by Kryptonite: Domestic Revenue Barely Matches Last Yea