Power, mythmaking, and state violence have always been the enticing draw for French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, and “The Wizard Of The Kremlin” looks like another icy plunge into systems built on manipulation. The first North American trailer has arrived ahead of the film’s May 15 theatrical release from Vertical, with Paul Dano leading the story as Vadim Baranov, a fictional spin doctor who becomes entangled with the ascent of a young Vladimir Putin, played by Jude Law.
Based on Giuliano da Empoli’s novel “Le Mage du Kremlin,” the film is set in the wreckage of post-Soviet Russia. It follows Baranov’s evolution from artist and television figure into the right-hand man helping shape a new autocracy. Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Will Keen, and Jeffrey Wright round out the ensemble, with Wright playing the American journalist to whom Baranov recounts his story (read our review).
Assayas co-wrote the screenplay with Emmanuel Carrère, and the film arrives with some festival pedigree already attached. Variety reported last year that it world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and IFFR’s 2026 program notes describe it as a chronicle of how Russia moved from post-Soviet instability to a modern authoritarian empire, with Dano’s Baranov serving as the film’s real center of gravity.
That setup alone gives the material an obvious charge, especially with Assayas filtering geopolitical history through media, image control, and the kind of amoral court politics that turn lies into governing philosophy. “The Wizard Of The Kremlin” opens in North American theaters on May 15. Watch the trailer below.
Edward Davis is a senior film journalist and longtime contributor to The Playlist. Davis covers the full breadth of cinema — from major studio releases to independent and international film.
