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Three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone has courted controversy with a series of technically ambitious, rabble rousing political dramas, chronicling the highs and lows of American history. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at all 20 of his narrative films, ranked worst to best (not including documentaries).

Born in 1946, Stone served in the Vietnam War before enrolling in NYU film school. He first came to prominence as a screenwriter, winning an Oscar for penning “Midnight Express” (Best Original Screenplay in 1978) before writing “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Scarface” (1983) and “Year of the Dragon” (1985). During this same period, he directed the low-budget horror films “Seizure” (1974) and “The Hand” (1981).

He emerged as a an A-list director when he was 40 years old with a pair of acclaimed war dramas released in 1986: “Salvador” and “Platoon.” Both earned him Best Original Screenplay nominations, while “Platoon,” which was based on his...

Sony Pictures Entertainment has upped Louise Heseltine to SVP, Corporate Communications in the Motion Picture Group.

Heseltine will continue to report to Tahra Grant, EVP, Chief Communications Officer, who was promoted earlier this year.

Heseltine joined the Culver City, CA lot in 2020 as VP, Corporate Communications, Motion Picture Group. Over the past 4 years she has strategized and implemented film positioning and comms plans, and drove press efforts for the studio’s ancillary businesses.

In a company email, Grant said “Louise’s analytical grit and global sensibility has long supported our movie campaigns and our film business more broadly. She has navigated complicated industry obstacles with deftness and sensitivity, and is well-positioned to broaden her corporate communications work for the motion picture group.”

Among the theatrical releases Heseltine has worked on at the studio are Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Where the Crawdads Sing, Bullet Train, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage,...

Sony Motion Picture Group has promoted veteran executive Louise Heseltine to senior VP, corporate communications.

Heseltine joined the studio in 2020 as VP of corporate communications for the Motion Picture Group, and worked on Sony titles including “Uncharted,” “Gran Turismo,” “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “Bullet Train,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “No Hard Feelings” and most recently “Bad Boys Ride or Die” and “The Garfield Movie.”

Heseltine will report to the studio’s chief communications officer Tahra Grant, who was promoted earlier this year after longtime leader Bob Lawson was elevated to head of corp comms for the entire Sony group.

“Louise’s analytical grit and global sensibility has long supported our movie campaigns and our film business more broadly,” Grant said in a company memo. “She has navigated complicated industry obstacles with deftness and sensitivity, and is well-positioned to broaden her corporate...

Brainy political lightning rod Oliver Stone isn’t making feature films anymore. Sure, he’d love to add a 21st to his 20 films to date; he just can’t find backers. His alternate route, like many other directors today, from fellow Cannes entrant Ron Howard (“Jim Henson: Idea Man”) to Martin Scorsese, is documentaries.

Stone has churned out a career total of ten, including recent 2021 Cannes entry “JFK Revisited” (Showtime) and 2022 eco-doc “Nuclear” (Abramorama). His latest, “Lula,” marks a move to the left from his much-criticized recent portraits of dictators such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro (HBO’s “Comandante”) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Showtime’s four-part “The Putin Interviews”).

Since his start as a filmmaker in the 1970s, the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet, now 77, has leaned into political fiction, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.,” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,...

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival lineup was finally revealed at the sliver of dawn on Thursday, April 11. Festival director Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch unveiled this year’s crop of films across the many sections, from the Competition to Un Certain Regard, during a press conference beginning at 5 a.m. Et. See the full lineup below.

The 77th edition of Cannes comes to the Côte d’Azur May 14 through 25, and a few titles were already confirmed to be in the mix. There’s Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded epic “Megalopolis,” which has already screened for a rarified few in the United States to much awe and speculation over what distributor might take on Coppola’s experimental vision. For his first feature since 2011’s “Twixt,” Coppola gathered a cast including Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Shia Labeouf, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, and Jason Schwartzman for a sci-fi vision of a ruined NYC-like metropolis.

Oliver Stone settled into a sofa on the terrace of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cluj, Romania, apologizing for the jetlag and gazing at a downcast sky that had briefly parted over the Transylvanian hillside. “Let’s see if we can find some blue,” he said, describing himself — despite ample evidence to the contrary — as a “hopeful” person. But after a week of steady downpours in this picturesque medieval city, the weather refused to cooperate. From the hotel terrace it was gray as far as the eye could see.

Stone was in Romania to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Transilvania Film Festival, which also programmed a small retrospective in honor of the three-time Academy Award-winning director including his latest film, the pro-nuclear-energy documentary “Nuclear Now,” which Variety’s Owen Gleiberman described as an “intensely compelling, must-see” doc after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Before receiving the award,...

Click here to read the full article.

In the film business, as in politics, timing is everything. And the timing of Nuclear, Oliver Stone’s new documentary, could hardly be worse.

The doc, which premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 9 and is being sold worldwide by the Gersh Agency, is a plea for world powers to invest heavily in nuclear power as the only realistic alternative to fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. It’s a thoughtful and reasoned argument, backed by an array of experts and supported with an encyclopedia’s worth of facts and figures which, thanks to Stone’s skill as an editor and storyteller, don’t weigh down the film’s 105-minute running time.

Too bad, then, that Nuclear debuts just as Russian and Ukraine forces battle it out over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with daily news coverage of the shelling,...

Oliver Stone is well-known for taking contrarian stands both onscreen and off.

Stone went to Russia and interviewed its president for a documentary called The Putin Interviews, which aired on Showtime in 2017. Now, with Putin and Russia driving the 24-hour news cycle, the director has been offering his perspective on his Facebook page and in interviews.

Early last month, Stone told Kcrw’s Robert Scheer: “The United States and its allies in NATO have been provoking Russia for, since two years now — actually three years – over the Ukraine…”

In the same interview, the director decried “bloodthirsty” media coverage saying, “they have no proof that Russia intends to invade Ukraine; I doubt that they would. I think Russia is concerned only with the Donbass region.”

After the invasion, Stone — who had also criticized the media for using the term “invasion” to characterize Russia’s plans — came around.

“Although the United...

When you think reliable narrator, Oliver Stone doesn’t exactly come to mind. Since his start as a director in the 1970s, the lightning-rod filmmaker, now 74, has leaned into fiction narratives with political points of view, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,” arguably his peak of high regard in Hollywood. It’s hard to recall that in 1992, controversial global smash “JFK” earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

Times change, and Stone’s complex historic and global point of view is far more layered and nuanced than current American partisanship will accept. That’s why the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet has managed to alienate folks on every side of the political spectrum, including accusations of promulgating violence with “Natural Born Killers,” promoting a whistleblower in “Snowden,” and conducting friendly documentary interviews with dictators,...

When you think reliable narrator, Oliver Stone doesn’t exactly come to mind. Since his start as a director in the 1970s, the lightning-rod filmmaker, now 74, has leaned into fiction narratives with political points of view, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,” arguably his peak of high regard in Hollywood. It’s hard to recall that in 1992, controversial global smash “JFK” earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

Times change, and Stone’s complex historic and global point of view is far more layered and nuanced than current American partisanship will accept. That’s why the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet has managed to alienate folks on every side of the political spectrum, including accusations of promulgating violence with “Natural Born Killers,” promoting a whistleblower in “Snowden,” and conducting friendly documentary interviews with dictators,...

In an upcoming hour-long interview with the BBC World Service’s radio program “The Arts Hour,” always-outspoken filmmaker Oliver Stone opens up about a variety of hot button issues. The Oscar-winning director, producer, and writer joined host Nikki Bedi for a wide-ranging chat that, given Stone’s predilection for unfiltered opinions, includes plenty of discussion about questions regarding so-called cancel culture.

When asked about how older, potentially offensive films should be treated in the current climate, including “Gone with the Wind,” which was temporarily pulled from new streaming service HBO Max last month, before returning with an informative disclaimer, Stone said he does not support the wholesale removal of such work.

“It’s very true that ‘Gone with the Wind’ is a very colored treatment of the South, but I think it’s a classic, it was my mother’s film of her generation,” Stone said. “She loved it and it defined so many people,...

“Natural Born Killers” arrived in multiplexes in 1994 like a molotov cocktail. Despite being dropped by Warner Bros. into the late-August graveyard of release dates, Oliver Stone’s serial-killer satire ended up at number one at the U.S. box office, and has remained a cult favorite since debuting 25 years ago.

As part of Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest, the film will screen in 35mm, in its unrated version, Tuesday night, with director Oliver Stone in attendance at the Egyptian Theatre. In a recent telephone interview with IndieWire, the notoriously prickly director insisted on keeping the Q&a on topic with “Natural Born Killers.” With regards to his upcoming Hollywood memoir slated for 2020, ill-received comments about anti-gay propaganda in Putin’s Russia, or Stone’s relationship to Putin as evinced by his 2017 documentary “The Putin Interviews”: Stone’s answer? “I don’t want to talk about that.”

Okay, then. Shocking to...

Oliver Stone celebrates his 73rd birthday on September 15, 2019. The three-time Oscar winner has courted controversy with a series of technically ambitious, rabble rousing political dramas, chronicling the highs and lows of American history. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1946, Stone served in the Vietnam War before enrolling in NYU film school. He first came to prominence as a screenwriter, winning an Oscar for penning “Midnight Express” (Best Original Screenplay in 1978) before writing “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Scarface” (1983) and “Year of the Dragon” (1985). During this same period, he directed the low-budget horror films “Seizure” (1974) and “The Hand” (1981).

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

He emerged as a an A-list director when he was 40 years old with a pair of acclaimed war dramas released in 1986: “Salvador” and “Platoon.

American director returns to festival for fifth time.

American director Oliver Stone will attend this year’s Zurich Film Festival (September 26 – October 6) as president of the jury.

He will be joined on the International Competition jury by Colombian director Ciro Guerra, Italian director Laura Bispuri, German actor Sebastian Koch, and Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani.

Zurich’s International Documentary Film Competition will this year be chaired by British producer Simon Chinn. He will be joined by American producer Stephen Nemeth, Swiss director Anja Kofmel, French director Maryam Goormaghtigh, and Swiss documentary filmmaker Christian Frei.

The Focus Competition, which selects first, second or third features from Switzerland,...

Oliver Stone will serve as the jury president of the international competition at this year’s Zurich Film Festival, it was announced Thursday. The Oscar-winning filmmaker will also present his Showtime documentary series “The Putin Interviews” and the restored version of his 1991 film “The Doors” at the festival.

“Oliver Stone is an edgy Hollywood auteur who continues to create epoch-making masterpieces and manages to broach explosive issues with brilliance,” said festival co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri. “We are delighted that [he] has accepted our invitation.”

The international competition jury also comprises Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra, Italian director Laura Bispuri, German actor Sebastian Koch, and Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani.

Double Oscar-winning documentary producer Simon Chinn has been tapped to chair the festival’s documentary film competition. German producer Thomas Kufus heads the Focus Competition, which is for Swiss, German or Austrian productions from a director making his or her first, second or third feature.

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone will lead the jury of the upcoming Zurich Film Festival's international competition. 

Stone will also present a restored version of his 1991 biopic The Doors and his documentary series The Putin Interviews at the 15th edition of the Swiss film fest. 

He will preside over a jury that includes Colombian director Ciro Guerra (Waiting for the Barbarians), Italian director Laura Bispuri (Figlia Mia), German actor Sebastian Koch (Werk Ohne Autor) and Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani (Lazzaro Felice).

"Stone has been a friend of our festival for 12 years now. He was recipient of ...

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone will lead the jury of the upcoming Zurich Film Festival's international competition. 

Stone will also present a restored version of his 1991 biopic The Doors and his documentary series The Putin Interviews at the 15th edition of the Swiss film fest. 

He will preside over a jury that includes Colombian director Ciro Guerra (Waiting for the Barbarians), Italian director Laura Bispuri (Figlia Mia), German actor Sebastian Koch (Werk Ohne Autor) and Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani (Lazzaro Felice).

"Stone has been a friend of our festival for 12 years now. He was recipient of ...

You may not be aware of this, but Oliver Stone seems to be pretty friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not only did the filmmaker feature Putin in a recent series titled “The Putin Interviews,” but Stone recently had the chance to interview the Russian leader yet again. But it’s not so much the relationship with Putin that seems to be drawing the ire of fans around the world.

Continue reading Oliver Stone Defends “Misunderstood” Interview With Vladimir Putin Calling Anti-lgbtq Law “Sensible” at The Playlist.

Oliver Stone has responded to comments he made in an interview with Vladimir Putin published as a transcript by the Kremlin earlier this week. In that interview, the “Platoon” director expressed support for Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law. The law, which Putin signed in June 2013, makes the distribution of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors an offense punishable by fines.

The two men were talking to promote “Revealing Ukraine,” a new documentary executive produced by Stone (and directed by Igor Lopatonok) that includes interviews with Putin — Stone had previously directed the four-hour Showtime series “The Putin Interviews” that aired in 2017. The Oscar-winner had previously produced Lopatonok’s 2016 documentary “Ukraine on Fire.”

“I don’t know what is going on with the American culture,” Stone told Putin. “It’s very strange right now. So much of the argument, so much of the thinking, so much of the newspaper, television commentaries about gender,...

Working on the final season of any series can be difficult, but that was especially true with “House of Cards” given the behind-the-scenes drama that led to the firing of star Kevin Spacey. “One of the real challenges we had in this season was telling our story without our former lead actor on screen at all,” reveals composer Jeff Beal, who was with the show from beginning to end. Watch our exclusive video interview with Beal above.

The sixth and final installment of Netflix‘s landmark political drama shifted the emphasis from Frank Underwood (Spacey), a conniving Congressman turned President, to his wife Claire (Robin Wright), who, as his Vice President, assumes the office following his untimely exit.

See Michael Kelly interview: ‘House of Cards’

With his music, Beal tried to “keep the ghost of Frank Underwood alive,” and the show’s writers tried to do the same. “All the...

Benicio del Toro has joined Oliver Stone’s new drama feature, White Lies.

Written and directed by Stone, The story covers three generations and focuses on an intimate exploration of family, loss, and love.

Del Toro will star as a child of divorce now repeating his parents’ mistakes in his own marriage and with his troubled son. Feeling trapped, he embarks on a lust-filled journey to free himself but only becomes more lost. When he meets a woman whose life is the opposite of his own, he begins a journey of rediscovery.

This isn’t the first time Stone and del Toro have worked together. The pair collaborated back in 2012 on Savages.

Also in news – Exclusive: Antoine Fuqua will meet with Kevin Feige about directing a Marvel film

Del Toro was recently seen reprising his role of Alejandro in the Sicario sequel, Soldado alongside Josh Brolin. He also recently starred...

The 2018 Emmy nominees for Best Main Title Theme Music are so wholly unique that it is impossible to mistake one for another. The nominees include the themes from “Godless” (Netflix), “The Last Tycoon” (Amazon), “Marvel’s The Defenders” (Netflix), “The Putin Interviews” (Showtime), “Somebody Feed Phil” (Netflix) and “The Tick” (Amazon). Emmy voters truly went their own way in this category, with “Godless” being the only show to earn a corresponding Best Series nomination.

From a rollicking Western tune to a jazzy big band number to a cheesy throwback to sitcoms of old, this category has everything you could want in a TV theme song. So which main title theme song will emerge victorious? After reading our breakdown of each of this year’s Emmy nominees, be sure to make your predictions.

“Godless” — Theme by Carlos Rafael Rivera

Carlos Rafael Rivera’s theme for “Godless” feels like an authentic Western theme without being too derivative,...

This year’s Emmy race in the music categories takes on greater interest because a win in the song category could instantly give songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul an Egot, having already won Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards.

Pasek and Paul — whose “La La Land,” “Greatest Showman” and “Dear Evan Hansen” songs have catapulted them into the front ranks of American songwriters in the past two years — are nominated for their new song, “In the Market for a Miracle,” written for Fox’s “A Christmas Story Live,” an adaptation of their 2012 stage musical.

They are just two of 28 first-time nominees in the six music categories, announced Thursday morning by the Television Academy for 2017-18 programs. Nearly 60 percent of all the music nominees are newcomers to the Emmy race. Ironically, several musicians were nominated for non-music categories: Donald Glover (“Atlanta”), John Legend and Sara Bareilles all received acting nods — and...

Could a documentary score win a prime-time Emmy, competing against music from some of the biggest dramatic shows on television?

The answer is yes. It’s happened twice in the past seven years. Last year alone, four documentaries were nominated for their music, and seven others were nominated in the decade prior.

Emmy rules don’t specifically disqualify a score just because it’s been written for a non-fiction film, so composers in that field are eligible to enter the prime-time competition, in either the “composition for a series” or “composition for a limited series, movie or special” categories.

Notes Trent Reznor, who with Atticus Ross composed the score for Ken Burns’ “The Vietnam War” PBS doc: “With ‘Vietnam,’ there was heightened awareness that this was precious material that needed to be treated with absolute dignity, which elevates it beyond a story someone created for entertainment purposes.

“We just try...

While streaming services have offered subscribers access to documentaries and unscripted series for some time, it’s only fairly recently that streamers have been making original unscripted and docuseries, such as Amazon’s “The Grand Tour” and Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country,” “Chef’s Table” and “Fastest Car.”

But it was less than 18 months ago when Netflix launched an initiative to make more of its own original unscripted shows, resulting in hits including “Queer Eye,” “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” and “Nailed It.” In May, Netflix signed a multi-year deal with Higher Ground Prods. — a company formed by former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle — that will include unscripted and docuseries and scripted content.

“We have, what, 125 million accounts with Netflix, and that sort of equates closer to 300 million active sets of eyeballs when you think about multi-user households,” says Lisa Nishimura, Netflix’s VP of original documentary and comedy programming.

Showtime’s expansive 2018 Emmy Fyc mailer will soon be arriving on the doorsteps of the TV academy membership. While the premium network previously shipped three series-specific mailers back in April for drama series “The Chi,” comedy series “Smilf” and limited series “Twin Peaks,” they’ve now sent out a fourth mailer featuring all of their eligible Emmy submissions. See photos above and below.

See Emmys 2018 exclusive: Showtime categories for ‘Patrick Melrose,’ ‘Smilf,’ ‘Twin Peaks’ and more

Included is recent Emmy winner “Shameless,” two-time champ for Best Comedy Stunts and four-time nominee for William H. Macy as Best Comedy Actor. Former Best Drama Series winner “Homeland” (2012) is also back in action after concluding its seventh season last month. Look for Emmy favorite Claire Danes and repeat nominee Mandy Patinkin to be major players again in the acting categories, along with Lesli Linka Glatter for directing the drama series.

More shows to...

Jury also includes Bahman Ghobadi, Agnès Godard, Lav Diaz and Jang Sun-woo.

Award-winning Us filmmaker Oliver Stone is set to head the 22nd Busan International Film Festival (Biff)’s jury for New Currents, the competition section for up-and-coming Asian directors.

The winner of Oscars, Golden Globes and a Berlinale Silver Bear for directing films such as Platoon and Born On The Fourth of July, Stone was recently at the Sarajevo film festival to receive an honorary award and screen a showcase including his latest documentary, The Putin Interviews.

Speaking with Screen there, he expressed concerns about the Us stance on North Korea and the possibility of doing a project focused on the hermetic country.

Stone will be joined on the Biff jury by Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, whose films include Cannes Camera d’or winner A Time For Drunken Horses and No One Knows About Persian Cats, which won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize...

Meda Or The Not So Bright Side Of Things takes best director and best actor.Scroll down to see the full list of winners.

Ana Urushadze’s Gerogia-Estonia drama Scary Mother has won the top prize at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, which concludes today (Aug 18).

The film took the Heart of Sarajevo for best feature film, which comes with a financial award of €16,000. It stars Nata Murvanidze as a 50-year-old housewife who experiences family struggles as she tries to complete her first novel.

The main competition saw Romanian director Emanuel Pârvu take the Heart of Sarajevo for best director for his film Meda Or The Not So Bright Side Of Things, which comes with €10,000.

Best actress went to Ornela Kapetani for Daybreak and best actor went to Şerban Pavlu for Meda Or The Not So Bright Side Of Things.

The jury, led by Michel Franco and featuring Mark Adams, Gordan Bogdan...

Exclusive And Updated: Shock departure due to shareholder dispute.

Im Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford has been forced out of the company he founded 10 years ago, Screen has learned.

It is understood the departure happened over the weekend following ongoing disagreement with the shareholders over the direction of the company and matters had escalated in recent weeks to the point of rancour.

Tang Media Partners (Tmp), which acquired a 60% stake in Im Global last year, notified Im Global staff on Monday morning at the company’s West Hollywood offices. Im Global employs around 60 people and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Munich, Mumbai, Mexico City, Beijing and Shanghai.

Im Global was riding high in its tenth anniversary year. Among the company’s typically robust volume of films was recent Oscar winner Hacksaw Ridge. Besides a busy sales business, the company’s growing roster of self-produced and financed features includes three that had been put...

Exclusive And Updated: Shock departure due to shareholder dispute.

Im Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford has departed the company he founded 10 years ago, Screen has learned.

It is understood Ford was forced out following a disagreement with the shareholders over the direction of the company and matters had escalated in recent weeks to the point of rancour.

Tang Media Partners (Tmp), which acquired a 60% stake in Im Global last year, notified Im Global staff on Monday morning at the company’s West Hollywood offices. Im Global employs around 60 people and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Munich, Mumbai, Mexico City, Beijing and Shanghai.

Im Global was riding high in its tenth anniversary year. Among the company’s typically robust volume of films was recent Oscar winner Hacksaw Ridge. Besides a busy sales business, the company’s growing roster of self-produced and financed features includes three that had been put into production in the last...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Oscar-winning Hollywood director Oliver Stone, commenting in favorable terms on his recently released The Putin Interviews.

The news came as organizers unveiled Monday that Stone is set to collect the Sarajevo Film Festival's Heart of Sarajevo Award next month.

"I mostly liked Oliver Stone himself," Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax. "He is an unusual and very profound person and a very balanced and comfortable interlocutor."

According to Putin, he hasn't yet had an opportunity to watch the entire interview series. "I'm sure that Oliver Stone is a...

Platoon director to attend 23rd edition of festival.

This year’s Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 11-18) will pay tribute to Us director Oliver Stone, who will receive the event’s honorary Heart of Sarajevo award.

The three-time Oscar-winning writer, director and producer has more than 20 feature film credits, including Born On The Fourth Of July and Platoon.

His recent work includes Edward Snowden biopic Snowden and The Putin Interviews, a four-part series with Us network Showtime in which he interviewed Russian president Vladimir Putin.

As previously reported, John Cleese will also receive an honorary Heart of Sarajevo at this year’s festival.

Sarajevo will also host a tribute to documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (The Look Of Silence).

It isn’t just Megyn Kelly who’s taking heat for interviewing Vladimir Putin. Oliver Stone’s two-part, four-hour “The Putin Interviews” has been divisive as well, with the Oscar-winning filmmaker receiving criticism for his sit-down with the Russian President. Among the critics is Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who says Stone “comfortably forgot” to ask Putin any difficult questions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Read More: Oliver Stone Defends Vladimir Putin In Bizarre, Seemingly Edited ‘Late Show’ Appearance

Stone also defended Putin in a recent “Daily Show” appearance, much to the bewilderment of many.

“He’s a well-known leftist and some Western leftists, unfortunately for me because I’m a leftist, think the enemy of your enemy is your friend,”Tolokonnikova continued. “I think he’s part of the global oligarchy and it’s pretty weird to me that a person who is supposedly supporting the left like Oliver Stone would interview Vladimir Putin.

Oliver Stone's The Putin Interviews continues to generate controversy as social media users and Russian media outlets claim that footage Putin showed Stone on his smartphone, which the Russian leader said was a military operation by his country against Isis, is actually of a U.S. military operation in Afghanistan.

As the four-part interview is being aired this week on Russia's largest, state-run television network Channel One, there have been reports that the footage, which Putin played for Stone as an example of Russia's activity against Isis, was actually of a U.S. strike against the Taliban back in ...

What's the Russian equivalent of Kool-Aid? Whatever it is, it's definitely red – and Oliver Stone has eagerly drunk it down. The trailers for The Putin Interviews, Showtime's four-part series documenting a series of conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Stone, would have you believe that you're going to hear some pretty hard-hitting stuff as the autocrat and the filmmaker face off, Frost-Nixon style. What we got instead was a series of softballs lobbed lovingly in the direction of one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the world.

Dr. Strangelove together: Putin watches stoically and says director Stanley Kubrick "foresaw some issues even from a technical point of view," while Stone thinks the film is hilarious and seems disappointed his new Russian buddy doesn't get the humor. (For the whole encounter, Stone's four-part documentary The Putin Interviews airs on Showtime beginning June 12.)

In 1964, The Hollywood Reporter's reaction to Kubrick's black comedy masterpiece, whose full name is Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, was much closer...

Oliver Stone's four-part series The Putin Interviews may have already kicked off in the U.S. on Showtime last night, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly holding out to watch the series when it premieres on his home turf next week. Russia's Channel One has picked up rights to the series and is expected to broadcast it in the country June 19-22 in the plum time slot following the evening newscast. According to a report in Sputnik News, Kremlin spokesman…...

Oliver Stone defended his soft approach interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Monday. Stone's new four-part documentary, The Putin Interviews, debuted June 12th and continues through the 15th on Showtime.

Stone interviewed Putin more than a dozen times over two years – an unprecedented amount of access for a Western interviewer. Colbert noted that many have criticized the director for being "too cozy" with the Russian President. Stone insisted he was merely polite and respectful. When Colbert pressed the director on Russia's interference in the...

Oliver Stone appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday to promote “The Putin Interviews,” a four-night docuseries that debuted on Showtime on Monday, but the director of iconic films like “Platoon” and “JFK” made a series of statements during the CBS show that almost sounded like he was there to promote Russia’s president.

Read More: Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin, Uncensored, in Showtime’s New Documentary Series ‘The Putin Interviews’

“He is a head of state. He has his own interests of Russia. I respect him for that, and I understand why he’s doing that,” Stone said on the show. “I never heard him badmouth the U.S. I heard him try to reach out and have a relationship with them.”

While the audience laughed at many of Stone’s statements, things apparently got considerably more contentious during the taping, according to a number of...

Filmmaker Oliver Stone hit an uncomfortable roadblock on Monday night in his press tour for the new docuseries The Putin Interviews.

During an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the Oscar-winning director teased his four-hour project (continuing tonight at 9/8c on Showtime), which features 12 interviews with Russian president Vladimir Putin filmed across a two-year span.

PhotosTony Awards 2017: Frank Underwood vs. Bette Midler, Rachel Bloom’s Hat Trick(s) and 17 Other Big Moments

But Colbert’s Q&A with Stone quickly veered into awkward territory, beginning with Colbert’s suggestion that Stone didn’t grill Putin hard enough...

The Putin Interviews, Oliver Stone's four hours of interviews with Russian president Vladimir Putin, will air on Russia's state-run television network Channel One June 19-22.

A representative for Channel One told The Hollywood Reporter that the network purchased the rights to air the interviews from Showtime, which bought them for the U.S., but declined to comment on the price tag of the deal or competition from other Russian networks.

The interviews, filmed by the Oscar-winning director on four occasions over the last two years, is to air at 9:30 p.m. local time.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, following the premiere of ...

As the Russia investigations are ongoing and became the topic of conversation again in the James Comey hearing on Thursday, Showtime released several new looks at “The Putin Interviews,” a four-part conversation that filmmaker Oliver Stone had with Vladimir Putin that will premiere on June 12.

Among the materials Showtime released are several photos taken from the more than dozen chats that Stone had with Putin that will be cut into a documentary that will air over four nights. The photos depict an often smiling Putin as he talks with the filmmaker, drinks tea, takes a stroll and even appears at a hockey game wearing a jersey, as can be seen in the photo gallery above or here.

Read More: ‘The Putin Interviews’ Trailer, Poster and Extended Clip: Oliver Stone Asks the Russian President Whether He Hacked the Election

The network also released a new extended clip, which comes from the...

Russian president Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that top Kremlin officials "can't wait" to watch Oliver Stone’s The Putin Interviews, scheduled to run June 12-15 on Showtime.

"We are interested in seeing how Oliver Stone organized the material," Peskov was quoted as saying by the Russian online news magazine Life on Wednesday, adding that Stone is "talented and unpredictable when it comes to creative expression."

There are no plans regarding a Russian release of the four-part interview-based documentary, filmed by the Oscar-winning director over the course of four in-person interviews with Putin in the past two years.

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It is almost too easy to make re-titling jokes about Oliver Stone’s rambling and fairly fawning four-night miniseries The Putin Interviews which premieres June 12 on Showtime. Is it better called Natural Born Killer: A Documentary, or To Russia With Love? Easy laughs aside, sitting in planes, palaces, hockey arenas and more with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Stone knows a thing or two about power and a bit about how to talk to it. However, as I say in my video review…...

If science fiction is meant to hold up a mirror to societal fears, it would be difficult to find a more pressing one than overpopulation and limited environmental resources. Set in a world where every family is allowed only one child, “Seven Sisters” stars Willem Dafoe as a grandfather who must hide the existence of his septuplet grandchildren, each played by Noomi Rapace. Rapace made a splash in the original Swedish version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and she dives back into the thriller in “Seven Sisters.”

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Previously titled “What Happened to Monday,” each septuplet is named after the day of the week that she is allowed to go outside. Out in the world, they all assume the same identity of Karen Settman. When Monday goes missing on her day,...

Discovery Channel has released the first trailer for “Manhunt: Unabomber,” a forthcoming anthology series about (you guessed it) the manhunt for the Unabomber. Sam Worthington plays the cat to Paul Bettany’s mouse in the eight-part series, which premieres later this summer. Avail yourself of the trailer below.

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Here’s the synopsis, if you haven’t read up on your history lately: “’Manhunt: Unabomber’ tells the dramatic and gripping true story of the FBI’s hunt for the Unabomber, the deadliest serial bomber in history. The story focuses on FBI Agent and Criminal Profiler Jim ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald (played by Sam Worthington of ‘Avatar’ and ‘Hacksaw Ridge’), who pioneered the use of forensic linguistics to identify and ultimately capture the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski (Paul Bettany, ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ ‘Avengers’ series and...

The dark side of stand-up comedy is always lurking behind the jokes, and “I’m Dying Up Here,” Showtime’s drama series set in Los Angeles’ ’70s comedy scene, aims to bring it to light. Tracking a group of comedians working a club on the Sunset Strip, the first episode slowly teases a tragedy meant to bring everyone together – even if the premiere feels unwieldy prior to the introduction of every member of this large ensemble.

An hour-long drama about the lives of comedians feels a tad antithetical even before you start counting expendable plot lines, but “I’m Dying Up Here” only exacerbates the fixable issues seen in the pilot.

What works best among the many ingredients at play is first how producer Jim Carrey and showrunner David Flebotte highlight the serious side of a world made to look lighthearted. Second, and more simply, is Ari Graynor as Cassie,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin discusses the infamous United States National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden in a new clip from Oliver Stone's upcoming documentary, The Putin Interviews. The four-part film premieres June 12th on Showtime.

In the clip, Stone (who directed the 2016 biopic Snowden) asks Putin whether, as a former Kgb agent, he was incensed with Snowden's decision to leak classified information. Putin offered a surprising initial assessment, saying, "Snowden is not a traitor. He didn't betray the interest of his country. Nor did he transfer any information...

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Edward Snowden’s release of classified government documents was the wrong thing to do, but he doesn’t think the whistleblower betrayed his country. “Snowden is not a traitor. He didn’t betray the interests of his country,” Putin says in a new preview of Oliver Stone’s Showtime docu-series “The Putin Interviews,” which premieres June 12. But when Stone asks if Putin “agreed” with Snowden’s actions, Putin responds, “No.” Also Read: Putin Tells Oliver Stone Why He's 'Still Alive' After Assassination Attempts (Video) Putin explains that he agrees with Snowden that the U.

“I think you are a cunning person,” Vladimir Putin tells Oliver Stone in the newly released trailer for “The Putin Interviews.” Showtime Documentary Films has also released the first extended clip and poster for the four-part documentary. Avail yourself of all three below.

Read More: Oliver Stone’s ‘The Putin Interviews’: Why the Showtime Series Could Help the Legendary Filmmaker Get His Mojo Back

Stone was granted “unprecedented access to both Putin’s professional and personal worlds” for the project, presumably because the Russian pol was so enamored of last year’s “Snowden”; the filmmaker interviewed his subject more than a dozen times, with their most recent session taking place in February.

Read More: Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin, Uncensored, in Showtime’s New Documentary Series ‘The Putin Interviews’

“The Putin Interviews” will air on Showtime on four consecutive nights beginning Monday, June 12. It probably won’t end with any Frost/Nixon–style revelations,...