Interviews With The "The Wizard Of The Kremlin" Star Paul Dano & Filmmaker Olivier Assayas

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"The Wizard Of The Kremlin" is a 2025 English-language French political satire film directed by Olivier Assayas, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emmanuel Carrère. It is based on the 2022 novel by Giuliano da Empoli. It follows the fictional government official Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) during the final years of the Soviet Union and the turbulent early years of the Russian Federation, as a young Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) rises to power. It also stars Alicia Vikander, Will Keen, Tom Sturridge, and Jeffrey Wright. Dano and Assayas were both kind enough to spend some time talking with us about their work and experiences making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in theaters from Vertical Entertainment. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:21.8	dot-coe-slash podcast to learn more. You are listening to The Next Best Picture podcast in these
0:27.1	are Giovanni Lago's interviews with the director and writer for the film The Wizard of the Kremlin,
0:32.1	Olivier Aceas, and the film star Paul Dano. Russia needs a new president.
0:38.3	He's young, athletic, he's a spy.
0:42.7	KGB.
0:44.8	Vladimir Putin.
0:46.5	What interests me is power.
0:50.9	Buddy and Baranov was a visionary director.
0:57.0	He became known as the new Rasputin. I want to be part of my time, not just a witness.
1:01.0	I cannot be subservient to anyone.
1:07.0	Our goal is chaos.
1:10.0	We'll get into people's heads.
1:12.6	We'll build the myth that the Russians are controlling the modern world.
1:19.6	You're using your black magic in the service of power?
1:25.6	It's a game.
1:28.8	Politics is the only game worth playing.
1:32.3	How miserable.
1:33.4	Hello, everyone.
1:34.2	I am Giovanni Lago from the Next Best Picture podcast.
1:36.7	And today I am joined by the star of the Wizard of the Kremlin.
	...

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