The Wizard of the Kremlin star Paul Dano spoke with ComingSoon editor-in-chief Tyler Treese about his latest movie. Dano discussed his approach to the character, the intersection of art and propaganda, and more. Vertical will release The Wizard of the Kremlin exclusively in North American theaters on May 15.
“In the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, rising KGB officer Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) joins forces with master manipulator Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) to reshape life behind the Iron Curtain, using violence and deception to change the world forever. Putin and Baranov’s reign of chaos begins with lies and corruption, and quickly escalates to assassinations, tyranny, and eventually all-out war,” says the official description.
Tyler Treese: Paul, such a pleasure to speak with you. I’m a huge fan of your work. Your character here is inspired by Vladislav Surkov, but there is a satirical element, and your character is ultimately fictional. What sort of research did you do for this role? Did you kind of approach it as if you were doing a real-life figure, or was it somewhere in between?
Paul Dano: Definitely somewhere in between on this one. I’ve played real-life people before, where I do think you have to be more accurate in searching for their particular spirit to come through you. This is a few steps away from Surkov. It’s definitely partially inspired by that character. But even in the book, which is a wonderful book, the character of Baranov is different than Surkov, including in his backstory, which is really important to me as an actor, to really work through that backstory. So you’re kind of building the life and the body and the voice and what made that person who they are. How did they arrive at their particular point of view? It was extremely important in this project, though, to be really thorough about the research. Not just because it is based on true events, but because that’s also just the best way to sort of fill out your imagination to step into the character in the film.
I did want to ask you about the backstory, because I thought it was so interesting. He’s a failed playwright, so he starts off being an artist, and then he becomes a propagandist, and there’s this interesting idea of propaganda being its own art form. What really fascinated you about that aspect of the film?
Well said, because that in itself is really interesting. Yes, it’s quite a fall from grace, in my opinion, to go from working in the theater to then working in reality television and then working in politics in the way that he does, and viewing the world as a stage and reality as an art form that you can shape. It’s actually quite disturbing. But I think we’ve seen those tactics around the world now. And in that way, I do not view this just to be a film about Russia or Putin. I think that it’s a film about modern politics and modern power.
Tyler Treese: I won’t get into spoilers, but I love the ending of this film. I was just curious what your reaction was when you read the script and saw how it ended. I imagine you had to laugh a bit, even just out of shock.
Paul Dano: What’s really interesting about that is that was not the ending when I first read the script. It was an ending that Olivier came up with later, closer to shooting. And I immediately loved the change. I thought it was actually really important because one of the risks you run in making a film about any subject matter or any person is there’s a natural mythologizing or mythmaking that comes with just the fact that there’s a film about it. So I think for Olivier to add that ending, which is different from the book, helps to clarify the film’s point of view for the audience, which I actually think is really important in this subject matter.
I spoke with Emile Hirsch about working with you on the classic The Girl Next Door. You said that you guys would freestyle rap during downtime. Is that still a skill that you have, Paul?
Lordy, no. My goodness. Look, I mean, that’s hilarious too because that was a shaggy-haired white kid with glasses. I think Emile led those moments. He was like a Venice Beach kid, and I was just there having a good time. But that was a great one. I have good memories. Eighteen years old, my first time in LA. That was fun.
Thank you so much for your time, Paul, and I hope you direct again. I love Wildlife.
That’s so nice. I’m hoping to next year, so we’ll see. Fingers crossed.
Thanks to Paul Dano for taking the time to talk about The Wizard of the Kremlin
