Stone/Putin: will their TV debate rival Frost/Nixon?
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Version 0 of 1. Name: The Putin Interviews. Age: Minus six weeks. Appearance: Like David Letterman’s programme, but with fewer jokes. Letterman is retired. I know, but I’m a little behind with my late-night TV chatshows. Vladimir Putin is going to be a chatshow host? Not exactly. Film director Oliver Stone has visited the Russian president four times over the past two years, conducted a dozen interviews with him, and the results have been condensed into four hours of TV. It is being shown over four evenings from 12 to 15 June on the US cable channel Showtime, and is said to be a no-holds-barred, gloves (but not shirt) off encounter. It’s Frost/Nixon all over again. That is how Showtime sees it, exactly 40 years after that celebrated meeting of egos. And Stone made a film about Nixon, of course. Indeed, one of three he has directed about US presidents. Power is the thread that runs through his career. How did Stone pull off such a coup? He got access to Putin when making his film about the whistleblower Edward Snowden. The two apparently got on like a dacha on fire, and these extended exchanges are the result. Will they really be that hard-hitting? That is the 64,000-rouble question. Stone is likely to be pretty well disposed towards Putin. He supports Russia’s view that the Ukrainian revolution of 2014 was a CIA plot aimed at driving a wedge between Russia and Ukraine, and rejects the assertion that Russia hacked the US presidential election. Isn’t Stone a leftie? Hard to believe he supports Trump. He doesn’t – he voted for the Green candidate in the election. But he reckons that the hacking allegations are fake news got up by the Democrats to delegitimise the president. So this is one conspiracy theory that Stone, the archconspiracist, doesn’t buy? Kind of, although he still sees the hand of the CIA in attempts to “blow up” Trump and destabilise Russia. Not to be confused with: Natural Born Killers. Don’t mention: Julian Assange. “For 10 years now,” says a besotted Stone, “he’s been a beacon of integrity and honesty.” Do mention: Dr Strangelove. At one point in the programme, Stone and Putin watch the cold war film together on camera, and discuss ways of avoiding nuclear catastrophe. |