What it's like to interview Putin | Oliver Stone and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Oliver Stone is a filmmaker with 3 Oscar wins and 11 Oscar nominations. His films include Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, Scarface, JFK, Nixon, Alexander, W, Snowden, and documentaries where he has interviewed Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Vladimir Putin.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[trevormarcray]

Not many people want to hear what Oliver Stone has say when it doesn't suit them. I say listen to the man, hear the message, don't disparage it, bank it. You don't have to agree with him, but no need to trash him.

[knutknutsen]

Oliver Stone is an honest man!
THAT is a rare quality in America!

[dannyarcher]

7:30 - Don't worry Oliver. That surprises no one who isn't a Colbert audience brainlet.

[tye]

I watched his 4-part Putin interviews series about 3years ago. And I became fascinated with Putin ever since. I remember after watching the series, I started watching hundreds of Putin speeches, interviews, etc going back since 1999 and I realized the west - particularly USA, have been completely dishonest in their depiction of Putin.

[bertrandjuan]

Oliver Stone is an excellent personality. His movies speak of his brilliance. God bless you, Sir.

[auroraborealis]

Compared to some US presidents, Putin is a wizard

[-vy]

Respect for talking about BOTH sides. War is ugly and hard to fully understand. 2014 to 2022. Most of the world only reads comments and videos, very few are really fighting and understand. We will find a way, please learn from it.

[milld]

It can take years for a person to reveal their true self. Lots of people play nice in the beginning.

[fettesteil]

Calm down guys… If putin joins lex on the podcast, all they will do is talk about dmt and Jiu-Jitsu

[cahlen]

I don't know.. I respect Mr Stone to the utmost, but I also watched his documentary series interviewing Putin. From my perspective, how I interpreted it, Mr. Stone was a bit forgetful and too chummy for it to be taken very seriously. Possibly initial sticker shock by the feeling of being so close to someone with so much power. But in the end, it just seemed to me like he would agree with most of what Putin said, and anything he didn't initially agree with Putin would explain it away, aggressively, and bring Stone over to his side.

And Stone being "lucky" by interviewing all of these dictators.. well.. a woman who has been divorced 5 times always finds it confusing why bad things happen to her too. Perhaps Mr Stone is the common denominator for these powerful folks to get out whatever their talking points are. In either case, great dialogue between Lex & Mr Stone. Would watch again. 10/10

[mikekaczmarek]

Thank you Oliver Stone for your life of service. Not entertainment but servuse to us all who knows and understands the world is a complex place. But for always keeping us informed. Many have been blacklisted. I appreciate you!!

[Enhancedlies]

just went to watch the Colbert interview, its so cringe and so... snarky

[nathancarranza]

Americans today don't think about Putin and American-Russian relations in a sensible way because we are not allowed to. Our propaganda centers (CIA, FBI, NSA, and Politicians) dictate what the narrative must be, and if you go against that, you are a bigot, a traitor, and most of all--you are an intolerant Nazi. That is our American reality, which is why even Lex is so hesitant to speak definitively on these topics (and I don't say this to cast shade on Lex; he does way better than most).

I love my country, the USA, very deeply, but I am not ignorant of our sins. At the least, we are responsible for the death of 184, 382 Iraqis as a direct result of our invasion of their country. [1]

At the moment, Forbes registers the amount of Ukrainian civilian casualties at 2, 729. Yes, that is 2, 729 too many. I can't imagine losing family or friends to a war--but as of now, Russia has killed 1.48% the amount of people that we killed in Iraq! My heart goes out to every casualty, but it's clear that Russia and Putin have been vilified by the West because there is an underlying agenda our governments have, and it most likely comes down to power and money--not justice, truth, or democracy.

America has been largely taken over by commies, leftist, and people who believe men can get pregnant.

[1] "...we know that between 184, 382 and 207, 156 civilians have died from direct war related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through October 2019."

[benjaminrichard]

3:16 yes exactly!!! I’m so sick of censorship and it’s completely unamerican

[cognitivedissonancecamp]

Lex, I forgot to load you with a question for your guest: why hasn't stone done a documentary on the USS Liberty attack?

[taylormerlino]

Putin doesn't have to be loud, he's the most powerful

[jamesdavis]

I think this is a fair view… Despite the atrocities going on in Ukraine today being unforgivable, I know. But, living in the US, I know nothing of a gentler side of Putin, even Russian people as a whole have been depicted to us as being very cold and harsh individuals. Yet, every Russian I’ve met here is not. So, I’ve only seen Putin through western eyes. I understand I do not have the full picture. I think we should at least try to understand before taking action and making accusations, on anyone, period. How else do you get to the truth? Also, hearing about the dubbing over Putin’s own words is highly disappointing for western media. FYI… I am not a Putin fan boy, I just understand how media works, even here in the US unfortunately…

[georgiarobinson]

Oliver Stone is a great historian
Very knowledgeable man.
Long live Russa and Putin

[aldorpo]

He spent hour with that dictator and now he thinks to know everything about the man. Next stop bashar al assad and kim jong-un and he discover how wonderful people they are. Sad

[alimo]

@ 6:12 listen very carefully to this point.