Four hour interview done with Putin by Oliver Stone

[Grooveriding]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/showtime-oliver-stone-vladimir-putin-documentary-1202404604/

Snagging an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin has stood as a Holy Grail for several news organizations. ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos has been pursuing just such a “get,” and the idea has surfaced elsewhere as well. Premium cable network Showtime appears to have gotten the scoop.

The CBS Corp.-owned pay-cable network will over four consecutive nights in June air “The Putin Interviews,” a series of conversations between filmmaker Oliver Stone and the Russian chief of state. The documentary program will debut on Monday, June 12, at 9 p.m. eastern, with three more segments slated to appear over the next three nights.


“If Vladimir Putin is indeed the great enemy of the United States, then at least we should try to understand him,” Stone said in a prepared statement.

Stone and his longtime documentary producer Fernando Sulichin, interviewed the Russian leader more than a dozen times over the course of two years, Showtime said, most recently in February following the U.S. presidential elections. No topic was judged to be off-limits. Since first becoming the president of Russia in 2000, Putin has never before spoken at such length or in such detail to a Western interviewer, Showtime said. The network compared “The Putin Interviews” to “The Nixon Interviews, the much-scrutinized series of conversations that took place between interviewer David Frost and former President Richard Nixon that aired 40 years ago in the Spring of 1977. in the spring of 1977.

“The Putin Interviews” is produced by Fernando Sulichin, New Element Media and Rob Wilson.

During the interviews, Putin expresses his views on relations between the U.S. and Russia; allegations of Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections; NATO; and turmoil in Syria and Ukraine. He also discusses such topics as his rise to the Presidency, and his long tenure there; his personal relationships with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump; Edward Snowden’s flight to asylum in Moscow, and the resignation of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Some of the exchanges are surreal. According to Showtime, Stone introduces Putin for the first time to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Cold War satire “Dr. Strangelove,” which the two proceed to watch together.

This isn’t the first time Stone has held forth with a controversial world leader. In documentaries such as “Comandante,””Looking for Fidel,” “Persona Non Grata” and “South of the Border,” Oliver Stone he has sparred verbally with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Benjamin Netanyahu, among others. Stone’s last project with Showtime was 2012’s “The Untold History of the United States,” which examined factors behind seminal world events such as the Cold War, and the U.S. decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

This will be interesting. I look forward to seeing it. If you've ever heard Putin speak or be interviewed, he's the antithesis of Trump in some ways. He's intelligent, well spoken, quick on his feet and handles himself very well. Very much the opposite of the shambling mess Trump is.

The trailer ends with Stone asking him why Russia hacked during the US election. I think it's safe to say there is not much cliffhanger to that, he'll deny it. I think this interview is going to provide a lot of fodder for propaganda and I wonder how well Stone will do at being impartial. I'm not sure where he stands politically these days, but from his films and documentaries, he has a lot of disdain for US foreign policy and military activity. I'm curious to see how he approaches Putin.

 

[cytg111]

This is Putin cashing in. I look forward to watching this but this is excatly Putin cashing in, plays have paid off and he is collecting the chips. Say hello to mr. geo-politics -- and he is here to stay.
Damn, that guy knows how to play. Props.

 

[maddie]

Looking forward to seeing this also.

Anyone looking at the recent history of Russia, post communism will appreciate Putin's home popularity. A rags to riches story. Hell, even with the sanctions, the economy is growing, IMF is praising, gold reserves are growing, agriculture and oil booming. Hate him or love him, he's obviously extremely competent.

The true badarse, Sir Winston Churchill, "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war."

Amazingly this topic has practically no comments whereas totally trivial posts are overflowing. Are so many of the P&N posters that shallow?

 

[Crumpet]

Outside of the gay-bashing and the doping policies.. I actually kind of like Putin.

He reminds me of Lord Vetinari.

 

[Jhhnn]

Outside of the gay-bashing and the doping policies.. I actually kind of like Putin.

He reminds me of Lord Vetinari.

Yeh, the way he deals with opposition figures is reminiscent of some other "Strong Leaders".