Jude Law Is Unrecognisable As He Transforms Into Vladimir Putin For New Film Role

The first image of Jude Law in character as Vladimir Putin for his next film has been unveiled.

Jude is set to portray the Russian leader in The Wizard Of The Kremlin, which takes place in the Soviet Union in the early years of Putin’s political career in the 1990s.

On Wednesday, Variety shared a new teaser photo from the set of the political thriller, depicting the Oscar-nominated actor looking unrecognisable after transforming into Putin for the film.

In the photo, he’s seen next to co-star Paul Dano, who plays spin doctor Vadim Baranov in the upcoming movie, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s novel of the same name.

Director Olivier Assayas told Variety that he intends for his film to be as much an exploration of the “modern political world” as a straightforward “origin story of Putin”.

He told the US outlet: “What makes this film unique, and ultimately what fascinated me, was precisely that it showed the consequences of political evil, but also tried to portray its nature. How it works, its inner workings.”

The Wizard Of The Kremlin also features appearances from Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright, and will premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this week.

Putin is the latest role for Jude Law, who has taken on some interesting and challenging roles in the last few years.

These have included Harry Potter favourite Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts movies, Captain Hook in Disney’s live-action reimagining of Peter Pan and Henry VIII in the historical drama Firebrand.

On the small screen, he has also played Jod Na Nawood in the Star Wars spin-off Skeleton Crew and will next be seen in the Netflix original Black Rabbit, in which he plays a New York bar owner whose life is turned upside down when he reunites with his estranged brother, leading to a series of chaotic events.