Director Alexandre Smia says film about Russia detonating nuclear warhead – and US refusing to respond – is not unrealistic
Russia has detonated a nuclear warhead over the Black Sea to underline its desire to revenge an assassination attempt on the Russian president. Germany and Italy urge restraint. The American president opts out of the standoff altogether and moots taking out Ukraine’s leader to appease Moscow.
A new thriller, which has brought nuclear anxiety to the red carpets of the Venice film festival this week, plays through what would happen next. In Jupiter, which premiered on the Lido on Friday, the duty to square up to the Kremlin and enter the stress-inducing mind games of the nuclear deterrent falls on the fictional French president Paul Archambault (played by the hulking French actor Denis Ménochet), who is backed in his mission by the British prime minister.