On Tuesday, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show host-of-the-week Jordan Klepper welcomed actor Paul Dano to the set to promote his new movie, The Wizard of the Kremlin, which is a satirical film on Vladimir Putin’s rise to power. According to both Klepper and Dano, the film also has relevant insights for Trump’s America.
Dano plays the part of Vadim Baranov, who is based on the real-life Vladislav Surkov. Surkov was a Putin advisor up until 2020 who helped shape and define what could be called Putinism and was responsible for, among other things, advising Putin on Ukraine during the original 2014 dismemberment of that country.
That context made Klepper’s attempt to tie Russia to the current political climate at home even more ridiculous. Although he never mentioned Trump explicitly, it was clear who he was talking about, “I mean, you can't help but watch a movie like this and relate it back to what is happening in America. I think it is really curious watching this person who is sort of described as the Rasputin to Vladimir Putin, who goes from being an avant-garde theater director to being this media manipulator. As you are piecing it together, how are you wrapping your head around a real person, how a character can transfer into somebody who essentially becomes, like, an amoral device of the state?”
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. steve malzberg
