OLIVER STONE The legendary writer/director is adding to a sideline interviewing world leaders, writes Mike Fleming Jr.
LAST YEAR, THREE-TIME OSCAR WINNER
It’s not a documentary in the sense that there, we
Oliver Stone made his 20th directorial outing with
examine the whole situation from two different
Snowden—a look at the life of former NSA consultant
points of view. No. It’s told from his point of view,
and whistleblower Edward Snowden. The film took
which allows us to hear him in, I think, a pretty
Stone on numerous trips to Russia, where Snowden
interesting way. For example, now you never see him
has lived in exile since 2013, which then led to a series
on American television. Well, he did an interview
of interviews with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The
with Charlie Rose for his show. It wasn’t bad, but it
format is something Stone has used to great effect
was short, and they dubbed him with an American
before in his documentaries about controversial poli-
interpreter who was a tough guy, almost like a base-
ticians such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.
ball announcer. So everything [Putin] was saying in Russian, the dubber was making the words harsh,
I can’t think of too many of your peers who
as opposed to the way he actually speaks. Putin
would do something like travel to Russia to
speaks very clearly, very evenly. Doesn’t raise his
conduct interviews with Putin. How much of
voice. There’s a big difference already in the inter-
this came from the time you spent there with
pretation of what you’re getting. If you’re a guy who’s
Edward Snowden?
dubbed, and he’s talking like a Russian is supposed
I met Mr. P. over there, during one of those trips. I
to talk, it’s quite a difference. That’s one example.
was introduced to him, and one of the earliest con-
One thing you have to remember is that he’s
versations we had was about Edward Snowden—
popular in many countries, and not just Russia.
because obviously, I’m fascinated by what hap-
He’s very popular in Germany, France, among many
pened, from his point of view. And sure enough, he
people—and he’s one of the most admired men—
was very forthright and honest, the way he speaks.
and for that matter, in a lot of Africa, a lot of Turkey,
As we talked, he told me the Snowden story from
Syria, the Middle East. So you’re talking about a
his point of view, which is in the film.
world figure here who we are constantly demeaning, treating him like he’s a con man and a murderer.
In the western media view we get of Putin,
As a character out of The Godfather, because
he comes off like a Bond villain. Why was all
maybe we like The Godfather.
this important to you?
We like that concept of villains, but it’s a very
I think in the film, we did him the justice of put-
dangerous caricature when you’re dealing with
ting his comments into a narrative that can
world peace and the nuclear power that we have.
explain his point of view, in the hopes that it would prevent continued misunderstanding
It’s reminiscent of when the Bush administra-
between the countries, and trust, lack of trust,
tion lumped every world leader that ran afoul
and—I fear—a near state of war, on the brink of
of U.S. policy into that axis of evil, which meant
war. That’s what I’m worried about, and that’s
no dialogue was necessary. Are you trying to
why I returned. We did four different visits after
demystify Putin as you tried to do with Castro
Snowden to get this on film. On every situation he
and Chávez, with simple dialogue?
talks about in the film, you’ll see there’s a differ-
Very well said. Absolutely. And it’s important to do
ent point of view than what we’ve been told.
so. We are really creating a fear and a situation in the American mind that is very dangerous. All of
Is this a documentary like the ones you made
a sudden, it’s conveniently shifting to, “Oh, forget
with Castro or Chávez?
about the war on terror. He’s the bad guy.”
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5/11/17 12:42 PM