Chattanooga Times Free Press

Oliver Stone interviews Putin for Showtime documentar­y

- BY MEREDITH BLAKE

Interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin, conducted by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, will air in a four-hour documentar­y that is set to air on Showtime on four consecutiv­e nights beginning June 12.

“The Putin Interviews” is culled from a series of a dozen interviews conducted by Stone with assistance from producer Fernando Sulichin.

The most recent interview was recorded in February, after the U.S. election and President Donald Trump’s inaugurati­on.

The film will touch on allegation­s of Russian interferen­ce in the presidenti­al election, the Kremlin’s role in Syria and Ukraine, as well as the increasing­ly adversaria­l relationsh­ip between the United States and Russia, Showtime said in a news release.

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

The announceme­nt said other subjects to be discussed include Putin’s “personal relationsh­ips” with Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump, as well as the surveillan­ce state and fugitive National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s flight to asylum in Moscow.

Though he is best known for politicall­y charged narrative films such as “J.F.K.” and “Platoon,” Stone has also made a number of documentar­ies about controvers­ial political figures, including a series of films about Fidel Castro.

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