🔗 Share this article

Last year, actor Jude Law remarked he “didn’t fear any repercussions” for portraying the Russian leader in a new film. The movie, though, could coincide so closely with the mythologized image circulated by official channels that, domestically, it reads as a endorsement instead of a critique.

The Manufactured Strongman

Over a long period, the Russian political apparatus and the country's entertainment industry have worked together to craft a made-to-measure persona of the president. This figure is an infallible strategist devoid of flaws, a former spy reimagined as a local 007 who always knows more than he reveals.

“Domestically, the constructed Putin has long eclipsed the actual person.”

Cinematic Reinforcement

One recent example is a television show launched last October, helmed by a pro-government filmmaker. Its main character is a fictional security officer selected by fate to “rescue” Russia from disorder. Although he is called Mikhail, the implication is clear: the hero must be a familiar security officer.

Western portrayals often end up buttressing this same narrative rather than undercutting it. A new film inspired by a bestselling satirical novel sets out to subvert the leader's mythology by presenting him as a symptom but as a consequence, moving the focus to the political machinery surrounding him.

The Myth of the Reluctant Leader

In the film, the president is presented as having been chosen by influential figures to stabilise the country because he is “a fit former intelligence agent”. They visit him and practically plead him to become president. His response is that he would prefer to rule from the shadows, seeking permanent power.

This tale is a key piece of state propaganda: the cool, reluctant strategist guided by fate. Historically, these events took place.

The Reality of the Casting Call

No one ever begged him to take the job. The presidency was in essence a casting call with no shortage of contenders. At the centre to this process stood a powerful businessman from the Yeltsin era who planned to control the state de facto.

• His list featured several politicians, including an opposition leader later murdered and a security service director.
• According to an expert who researched Putin’s biography, the future president simply fitted the necessary criteria: loyal, from the security services, and not a communist or a liberal.
• A businessman close to the events said the primary requirement was controllability and faithfulness, not strength.

“They didn’t need a strong candidate, they needed someone controllable, someone who would obey orders.”

Building the 007 Persona

Experts agree that the notion of him as a master operative was constructed retrospectively. Stories about his “recruitment work” in East Germany fall apart under examination. Fundamentally, he was an administrator and technical tasks, a mid-level functionary not involved with actual agent work.

Curiously, the move to depicting him as a “007” may in part have been triggered by the actor's arrival as James Bond. His harder version led Russian media and social media to make comparisons with their leader. Mashup posters swapping Craig’s face with Putin’s surfaced on Moscow streets, fueling the growing tendency to frame him as a Russian 007.

A Propaganda Win?

Given the casting, an actor popular with viewers there, the authorities are likely to seize the chance to frame his casting as a small victory. The film's exclusion of public dissent, the opposition, or prominent activists from its narrative, even though it includes recent years, is a pleasant bonus for state propaganda.

Domestically, Putin is frequently an all-powerful presence who remains unseen directly. His influence is signaled through photographs or calls “from above”. Now, he finally acquires a famous actor's visage—one that may inadvertently echo the very myths it might seek to examine.