WHEN OLIVER MET VLADIMIR
LEAVE it to Oliver Stone to be charmed by Vladimir Putin.
“He drives his own car and thinks like a chess player,” Stone tells The Post, calling the Russian strongman “humble.”
Then again, the 70-yearold director once called Hitler “an easy scapegoat” and found good things to say about Edward Snowden. It was while wrapping up his biographical thriller “Snowden” that the filmmaker found himself in the figurative embrace of Putin.
So began 19 hours of conversations with the KGB agent-turned-Russian Federation president: talks that Stone pieced together for “The Putin Interviews,” a four-part series that premieres Monday on Showtime.
It’s easy to wonder why the notoriously secretive Putin would agree to sit down with Stone, as he did over the course of two years.
“He did the interviews because he wants to be heard,” Stone says. “Plus, I think my questions challenged him.”
Stone says he kept Putin on his toes by posing unexpected queries, going so far as to ask Putin how soundly he sleeps.
“He told me that he sleeps very well,” says Stone. “If I was him, I’d be a nervous wreck . . . Apparently, judo helps.” Putin, it turns out, is a black belt who’s been honing his judo skills since age 11.
Stone says he was also impressed by what he saw as a lack of ostentation during their interviews, which took place in Putin’s automobile, home and office. But he did notice that Putin had an eye for the ladies.
“He likes women, and brightened when my wife was around,” Stone says. “Maybe he relaxes with his mistress-cum-wife. A lot of men do that.”
Given Putin’s professed love of swimming and pumping iron, one wonders if they ever met in a gym.
“I did not work out with him,” Stone says with a laugh. “He is in great shape. I think I would have been embarrassed.”