There's a mask': Jude Law unfazed by the perils of playing Putin

Jude Law has said he was unfazed by the prospect of playing Vladimir Putin and does not fear any repercussions after stepping into the shoes of the Russian president.

- Nadia Khomami

Speaking before the premiere of Olivier Assayas's political satire The Wizard of the Kremlin at the Venice film festival yesterday, the actor said: "We weren't looking for controversy for controversy's sake. It's a character within a much broader story. We weren't trying to define anything about anyone."

He added: "I hope not naively, but I didn't fear repercussions."

Law said one of the challenges he faced was portraying an opaque figure whose tightly controlled public image reveals little of the man behind it. "The tricky side to me was that the public face we see gives very, very little away. There has been a term for him and that is 'the man without a face'. There's a mask."