RT is among the few outlets on the award-winning director’s news menu
In an interview published on Tuesday, director Oliver Stone spoke about his new documentary ‘Nuclear Now,’ but also about his own media consumption, Russian and US politics, and the best solution to the problem of climate change.
Interviewed by the Guardian, Stone admitted to reading the British newspaper every once in a while, though disliking its recent “rightward tilt.” Though the New York Times published a “glowing” review of his film, Stone said he read the flagship US newspaper with “skepticism.”
According to the Guardian, Stone’s “idiosyncratic” media diet consists of RT, Al Jazeera, and the video platform Rumble – though that’s like saying one follows YouTube, rather than individual creators on it.
When questions about the media segued into questions about US and Russian politics, Stone declined to be drawn in, offering personal opinions instead.
“My favorite president was John Kennedy, so if you look at the two Irishmen sideways, you’ll find that John Kennedy is a peace lover. And you find that Joe Biden is a cold warrior in the worst sense of the word,” he said.
As for Russia, it’s “doing a great job with nuclear energy,” the director said, while President Vladimir Putin “is a great leader for his country and the people love him.”
Stone was able to tour Russian nuclear power plants for his documentary, and expressed regret he was not able to do likewise in China.
‘Nuclear Now,’ which premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival and opened on Monday in the US and Canada, makes the case for atomic energy as the way to tackle climate change. Stone counted it as his 30th film and 10th documentary, all about the “undiscovered lies that people wouldn’t admit.”
The film is based on a book co-written by Professor Joshua Goldstein. Stone’s first thought was to make it a fictionalized feature, but “it wasn’t good.” They ended up agreeing on a documentary script instead.
“I like the glamor of the old movies. You know, I want to see Elizabeth Taylor and I want to see Brigitte Bardot. Marilyn Monroe. I want to see stars!” Stone told the Guardian, noting that social media has destroyed that movie mystique. “I respect reality, but I don’t want to see it, necessarily. I like to see heightened reality.”
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