{"id":33516,"date":"2026-02-14T13:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516"},"modified":"2026-02-14T13:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:27:59","slug":"vertical-acquires-north-american-rights-to-oliver-asaayas-the-wizard-of-the-kremlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516","title":{"rendered":"Vertical Acquires North American Rights to Olivier Assayas&#8217; The Wizard of the Kremlin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><b>\u00a9<\/b>Courtesy of Vertical<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Following Premieres at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Vertical has acquired North American rights to &#8220;<strong><i>The Wizard of the Kremlin<\/i><\/strong>.&#8221; Directed by Olivier Assayas (<strong>&#8220;<i>Irma Vep&#8221;<\/i><\/strong><i>,<\/i>&#8220;<strong><i>Personal Shopper<\/i><\/strong>&#8220;,<i> &#8220;<strong>Clouds of Sils Maria<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), the film stars Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano (&#8220;<i><strong>The Fabelmans<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander (&#8220;<i><strong>The Assessment<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), Tom Sturridge (&#8220;<i><strong>The Sandman<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), Will Keen (&#8220;<i><strong>Wolf Hall<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), with Academy Award nominee Jeffrey Wright (&#8220;<i><strong>American Fiction<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>,<i> &#8220;<strong>The Batman<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>) and Academy Award nominee Jude Law (<i>The Order<\/i>). Vertical is setting the film for a theatrical release later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Russia, early 1990s. Amid post-Soviet chaos, a brilliant young man, Vadim Baranov (Dano), charts his path. First an artist, then a reality tv producer, he becomes the spin doctor to a rising KGB agent: Vladimir Putin (Law). At the heart of power, Baranov shapes the new Russia, blurring the boundaries between truth and lies, belief and manipulation. Only the magnetic Ksenia (Vikander) is beyond his control, tempting him away from this dangerous game. Years later, after retreating into silence and shrouded in mystery, Baranov finally opens up, revealing the dark secrets of the regime he helped build.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Based on the fictionalized novel\u00a0<i>Le Mage du Kremlin<\/i> \u00a9 Editions Gallimard, 2022 by Giuliano da Empoli, Assayas co-wrote the screenplay with Emmanuel Carr\u00e8re (&#8220;<strong><i>Between Two Worlds&#8221;<\/i><\/strong>). The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, followed by its North American Special Presentation premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1774669342741533\" data-ad-slot=\"1211148813\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201c<strong><i>The Wizard of the Kremlin<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0has been one of my most ambitious and most exciting projects. A political thriller and an epic, served by a dream cast. The shoot was an adventure, a challenge\u2026 and a joy,\u201d shared Assayas. \u201cI am thrilled to team up with Vertical, and I can\u2019t wait for North American audiences to discover the film in theaters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cOlivier is an exceptional filmmaker who has crafted a remarkable film, offering a rare and compelling glimpse behind the Iron Curtain,\u201d said Vertical Partner Peter Jarowey. \u201cWith a standout cast led by Paul and Jude, we\u2019re excited to bring the film to North American audiences later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The film was produced by Olivier Delbosc for Curiosa Films, Sidonie Dumas for Gaumont, coproduced by France 2 Cin\u00e9ma, and executive produced by Alexandra Abrams, Justin Ardalan-Raikes, Sylvie Barthet, Niraj Bhatia, Lee Broda, Patrick Doherty, Max Kondziolka, Stuart Manashil, Joel Michaely, Michael Paletta, Thomas Pierce, Jeff Rice, Dean Sansovich, Theodore Shivdasani, Hugh Strange, and Scott Weber. Additional below-the-line talent includes director of photography Yorick Le Saux (&#8220;<i><strong>Blitz<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), editor Marion Monnier (&#8220;<i><strong>Any Day Now<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), production designer Fran\u00e7ois-Renaud Labarthe (&#8220;<i><strong>Bonjour Tristesse<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), costume designer J\u00fcrgen Doering (&#8220;<i><strong>The Richest Woman in the World<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>), and with casting by Antoinette Boulat (&#8220;<i><strong>The French Dispatch<\/strong>&#8220;<\/i>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The deal was negotiated by Peter Jarowey and SVP of Acquisitions Tony Piantedosi on behalf of Vertical and by CAA Media Finance and Gaumont on behalf of the filmmakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1774669342741533\" data-ad-slot=\"1211148813\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9Courtesy of Vertical Following Premieres at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Vertical has acquired North American rights to &#8220;The Wizard of the Kremlin.&#8221; Directed by Olivier Assayas (&#8220;Irma Vep&#8221;,&#8220;Personal Shopper&#8220;, &#8220;Clouds of Sils Maria&#8220;), the film stars Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano (&#8220;The Fabelmans&#8220;), Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander (&#8220;The Assessment&#8220;), Tom Sturridge&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,20471],"tags":[1081,1016,7515,4382,959,29829,10996,10471,20877],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vertical Acquires North American Rights to Olivier Assayas&#039; The Wizard of the Kremlin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following Premieres at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Vertical has acquired North American rights to &quot;The Wizard of the Kremlin.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vertical Acquires North American Rights to Olivier Assayas&#039; The Wizard of the Kremlin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following Premieres at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Vertical has acquired North American rights to &quot;The Wizard of the Kremlin.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T18:27:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-Wizard-of-the-Kremlin.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"439\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nobuhiro Hosoki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nobuhiro Hosoki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516\",\"name\":\"Vertical Acquires North American Rights to Olivier Assayas' The Wizard of the Kremlin\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-Wizard-of-the-Kremlin.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-14T18:27:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-14T18:27:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a39aff30168e5736b19e3486a7747bd3\"},\"description\":\"Following Premieres at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Vertical has acquired North American rights to \\\"The Wizard of the Kremlin.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-Wizard-of-the-Kremlin.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-Wizard-of-the-Kremlin.jpeg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":439,\"caption\":\"The Wizard of the Kremlin\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33516#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vertical Acquires North American Rights to Olivier Assayas&#8217; 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