EXCLUSIVE: Back in August we unveiled a first clip for Oliver Assayas’ drama The Wizard of the Kremlin starring Paul Dano and Jude Law ahead of its Venice debut and immediately we can reveal the full international trailer.
Adapted by Assayas and award-winning screenwriter and novelist Emmanuel Carrère from the eponymous novel by Giuliano da Empoli, the film delves into the Byzantine politics of post-Soviet Russia and the rise to power of Vladimir Putin.
Dano plays spin-doctor and advisor Vadim Baranov, a fictitious character loosely inspired by real-life Russian politician Vladislav Surkov, opposite Law as Putin, who first appears on screen as a cold-blooded KGB agent with a ruthless, power hungry streak.
The new trailer also unveils Alicia Vikander as Baranov’s beautiful wife Ksenia; Tom Sturridge as a banker and oligarch based on the real-life former oil and gas baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who found himself in jail after challenging Putin’s grip on power; Will Keen as late oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who died in exile in London in suspicious circumstances and Jeffrey Wright as an American journalist in Moscow, in whom Dano’s Baranov confides.
Deadline critic Damon Wise, reviewing the film out of Venice, pointed to the timely nature of the work.
“Though it is set almost entirely within the realpolitik of early 21st century Moscow, The Wizard of the Kremlin offers a warning to the West about how that state of affairs came to be,” he wrote.
The film enjoyed a 12-minute ovation in Venice and has since played at Toronto, San Sebastian and London among other festivals and soon hits the MENA circuit with a screening at the Red Sea Film Festival in December.
The Wizard of the Kremlin is produced by Oliver Delbosc (Curiosa Films) and Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont) in coproduction with France 2 Cinéma with the participation of France Télévisions and Disney+. Gaumont is handling French distribution and international sales.
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