🔗 Share this article

In a recent appearance, actor Jude Law remarked he had no concerns about backlash for portraying Vladimir Putin in a new film. This production, though, could coincide so closely with the carefully constructed image circulated by official channels that, within Russia, it functions as a compliment rather than a critique.

The Manufactured Strongman

For years, the Russian political apparatus and its entertainment industry have collaborated to craft a made-to-measure version of the president. This character is an infallible strategist without age or mistakes, an ex-intelligence officer reimagined as a Russian James Bond who consistently understands more than he reveals.

“Domestically, the manufactured Putin has long overshadowed the real one.”

Cinematic Reinforcement

A notable instance is a television show released last October, directed by a Kremlin supporter. Its main character is a fictional blue-eyed lieutenant colonel inexplicably chosen to “rescue” the nation from disorder. Although he is called Mikhail, the message is unmistakable: the hero must be a familiar security officer.

International depictions often end up reinforcing this same narrative rather than undercutting it. An adaptation based on a popular book sets out to subvert the Putin cult by framing him as a symptom but as a consequence, shifting the focus to the political machinery surrounding him.

The Myth of the Reluctant Leader

On screen, the president is presented as having been chosen by powerful oligarchs to steady the country because he is “young, athletic and a spy”. They visit him and practically plead him to become president. His response is that he would prefer to rule from the background, seeking enduring influence.

This tale is the Kremlin’s export myth: the detached, unwilling mastermind shaped by destiny. Historically, none of this took place.

The Truth Behind the Selection

Nobody ever begged him to take the job. The presidency was in essence a selection process with no shortage of contenders. Central to this process stood an influential oligarch from the Yeltsin era who planned to control the state in practice.

• The shortlist featured various figures, including a reformer later murdered and a security service director.
• According to a journalist who studied his rise, the chosen candidate merely met the required parameters: loyal, from the intelligence world, and not a communist or a liberal.
• A businessman familiar with the process said the key criterion was controllability and faithfulness, not strength.

“The goal wasn't a strong candidate, they needed someone controllable, someone who would follow instructions.”

Building the 007 Persona

Analysts concur that the notion of him as a powerful KGB spy was built after the fact. Stories about his “recruitment work” in East Germany do not stand up to scrutiny. Fundamentally, he was an administrator and routine duties, a low-level clerk not involved with field operations.

Curiously, the shift to framing him as a “spy” could partly have been inspired by Daniel Craig’s debut as 007. The grittier interpretation prompted local outlets and online audiences to make comparisons with Putin. Edited images replacing Craig’s face with his surfaced on city centers, feeding the growing tendency to see him as a Russian 007.

A Diplomatic Opportunity?

Given the casting, an star popular with viewers there, the authorities are likely to seize the opportunity to portray this choice as a minor diplomatic triumph. The film's exclusion of public dissent, the opposition, or key figures from its narrative, despite covering the past decade, is a welcome aspect for state propaganda.

In Russian cinema, the president is often an all-powerful presence who remains unseen directly. He is hinted at through portraits or calls “from above”. In this new film, he at last gets a recognizable face—one that may inadvertently echo the exact legends it perhaps aims to examine.