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The current political landscape gave way to a rather more glamorous one on Sunday afternoon as the 82nd Venice Film Festival hosted new espionage thriller Wizard Of The Kremlin.
In what could arguably be the unlikeliest casting since John Wayne played Genghis Khan, British star Jude Law stars as Russian President Vladimir Putin in this adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli’s 2022 novel.
And he was on had to promote the film alongside glamorous co-star Alicia Vikander in north-eastern Italy as this year’s ceremony reaches its halfway point.
Somewhat inevitably, Vikander – who plays the fictional Ksenia to Law’s Putin in their new film – overshadowed the British actor in a sweeping blue evening gown as she sashayed onto the red carpet ahead of Sunday’s official screening.
The Swedish actress, 36, was met by a wall of photographers evidently keen to capture her off-the-shoulder dress as she posed alongside Law, 52, who looked suitably suave in a white tuxedo and black dress trousers.
The pair were accompanied by American star Paul Dano – Vadim Baranov in the new film – director Olivier Assayas before being welcomed by festival organiser Alberto Barbera.
The current political landscape gave way to a rather more glamorous one on Sunday afternoon as the 82nd Venice Film Festival hosted new espionage thriller Wizard Of The Kremlin, starring Alicia Vikander (left) and Jude Law (right)
ikander – who plays the fictional Ksenia to Law’s Putin in their new film – overshadowed the British actor in a a sweeping blue evening gown as she sashayed onto the red carpet
Law insisted before Sunday’s premiere that he didn’t enter his latest project naively, and that he also does not fear repercussions for his portrayal.
‘I felt safe in the hands of Olivier,’ he said. ‘This is a story that was going to be told intelligently with nuance and consideration. We weren´t looking for controversy for controversy´s sake.’
Law, who wore prosthetics for his transformation, said his Putin is “a character in a much larger story.”
‘We weren´t trying to define anything about anyone,’ he added.
The film is an adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli´s bestselling book of the same name, an account of the Russian president’s rise to power alongside fictional adviser Vadim Baranov, played by Dano.
It is partially set in the early 1990s amid post-Soviet chaos and continues through 2014.
