Oliver Stone, long known for making movies extolling anti-U.S. figures, is hoping to shoot a documentary interview with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Stone already has shot documentaries about his friendship with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Now he is in Russia working a biographical film about fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, "The Snowden Files," but of his newest dream project, he told the Russian RIA Novosti news agency, "I would interview (Putin) to show the point of view that Americans don't want to hear about. I would like to
make a documentary about him."
Snowden, who is wanted by U.S. authorities for revealing top secret information, has been granted asylum by Putin in Moscow and has lived there since June, 2013. Stone told RIA Novosti that he has met Snowden and plans to start shooting the film next year.
Stone, the award-winning director of "Natural Born Killers," "Born on the Fourth of July," "Platoon," "Wall Street" and "JFK," said he currently is working on the screenplay for the Snowden film, which is partly based on the book, "Time of the Octopus," written by Snowden's Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena.
Kucherena
told Sky: "We hope to begin shooting at the beginning of next year, since we have been working on the screenplay for almost a year and we are very happy that everything is working out."
"We have a trusting relationship," Kucherena told RIA Novosti. "At first we were suspicious of each other."
Snowden is to be portrayed in the film by the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Snowden has approved of the casting choice.
In a recent interview with a Russian newspaper,
reported by Russia Insider, Stone, 68, commented that one of the producers on another film he's shooting, "Ukraine On Fire," suggested that he interview Putin. "We made such a proposal. I can’t say for sure whether that happens or not. It's up to Mr. Putin," he told Russia Insider.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told the Moscow Times, "We are aware of Stone's desire to make a film,” and added that Putin met Stone on Nov. 4 at an event in remembrance of Russian actor and director Vasily Shukshin.
In his interview with the Russian paper, Stone said, "When Putin took the Snowden decision or, for example, when he made an offer to destroy chemical weapons in Syria, he really helped the world and contributed to the peace on our planet," Russia Insider reported.