There are few directors as divisive as Oliver Stone. While he's well-regarded as a great craftsmen and storyteller, his politics oftentimes overshadow his otherwise great filmmaking abilities. Even if you're not the biggest fan of his, he has an impressive oeuvre, including the Oscar-winning PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. Though, as divisive as Stone is, he doesn't hold a candle to Putin. And apparently it seems that – over the course of several years – Stone has been traveling back-and-forth to Russia to conduct Q&A sessions with the controversial Russian leader.
Here's a trailer, documenting those meetings, which will air on Showtime later this year:
And here's what Stone himself had to say about the film:
It’s not a documentary as much as a question and answer session. It opens up a whole viewpoint that we as Americans haven’t heard… He talks pretty straight. I think we did him the justice of putting (his comments) into a Western narrative that could explain their viewpoint in the hopes that it will prevent continued misunderstanding and a dangerous situation – on the brink of war.
Personally, as a huge fan of Stone, this sounds fascinating to me. Stone is also no stranger to controversial figures, having sat down before with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. And, reportedly, Stone screened Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE for Putin for the first time, so I'm curious to check this out for his reaction to that alone.
Meanwhile, the documentary – or whatever Stone wants to call it – will premiere on showtime June 12th.