Jude Law is playing Vladimir Putin in a new movie: 'Oh God, how am I going to do this?'

From the Skeleton Crew to the KGB: Jude Law is set to play Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas' new movie.

In a conversation with Deadline, the actor revealed he'll play the Russian president at the beginning of his governing career in Assayas' upcoming The Wizard of the Kremlin. "I say that hesitatingly because I haven't really started work on it yet," said Law. "I mean, I have, but at the moment it looks like an Everest to climb, so I'm in the foothills looking up thinking, 'Oh Christ, what have I said?'"

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The actor added, "That's often how I feel whilst I say yes. I was going, 'Oh God, how am I going to do this?' But anyway, that's for me to sort out."

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Law's attachment to the film was first reported last spring, though details on who he was set to play was not specified. An adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli’s best-selling novel of the same name, it'll follow a young filmmaker (played by Paul Dano) who unexpectedly becomes an advisor to Putin as he rises to power to post-Soviet Russia.

Alicia Vikander (who most recently starred opposite Law in 2023's Firebrand), Zach Galifianakis, and Tom Sturridge round out the cast of the political thriller.

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Law is no stranger to playing world leaders, having portrayed Pope Pius XIII in miniseries The Young Pope. His most recent credits include the films The Order and Eden, and he can currently be seen in Disney+'s Star Wars series Skeleton Crew. The actor is also slated to reprise his role as John Watson in the long-gestating Sherlock Holmes 3 movie alongside Robert Downey Jr., having provided a promising update regarding the film in November.

"There's a great will to make it," Law told The Playlist. "And a great will amongst us all to get it right to do it, to find the time, to find the right team... the hope is we're still going to do it. I think there's a new iteration of the script I haven't yet read. And then there's a case of, 'How expensive is it? And can we get it made?'"

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