It\u2019s unclear from the documents \u2014 which include internal emails and film synopses as well as pitch brochures \u2014 whether Stone was on board with Lopatonok\u2019s plans this time around, or even aware of most of them. None of the projects has come to fruition. Stone and his business manager did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lopatonok, in an interview with OCCRP last week, said Stone was fully aware that he had proposed documentaries to several dictators, whom he referred to as \u201cmy heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nYou will not make any news with that. You know that, right? <\/p>\nLopatonok said in response to a question about Stone\u2019s knowledge of the pitches.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lopatonok declined to answer specific questions on the financing of his earlier films, or how the proposed documentaries with Stone would be financed. After an increasingly combative Lopatonok threatened journalists and their sources, shouting \u201cwe\u2019re going after you personally,\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019re going to destroy you,\u201d an OCCRP editor ended the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lopatonok did not respond to a follow-up email that invited him to answer questions in writing, instead co-authoring a piece on a website he is affiliated with, Intelligencer.today, that describes him as a \u201cvictim\u201d of OCCRP\u2019s \u201chit-piece information operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oliver Stone’s interview with Vladimir Putin. July 19, 2019. Credits: kremlin.ru<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n What does Lopatonok offer? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the documents obtained by reporters show just how explicit Lopatonok was about the true aim of his films and how he apparently sought to pitch them to his subjects: by promising to bolster their reputations on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Lopatonok\u2019s glossy pitches \u2014 titled \u201cUntitled Oliver Stone Documentary\u201d and \u201cAbout Ilham Aliyev and Azerbaijan\u201d \u2014 promises that Stone would \u201csit face to face\u201d with the Azerbaijani strongman and cover not only \u201cemerging of leader to the head of state rank, but all questions of colorful and fascinating history of Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another pitch offers to \u201cbring the dramatic history of modern Belarus and its leader to a wide audience\u201d at a moment when \u201cthe attention of the whole world was focused on Belarus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWe, as the creators of the film, believe in the wisdom and consistency of Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko\u2019s actions.<\/p>\nreads the pitch, which is fronted with a black-and-white montage juxtaposing Lukashenko\u2019s face with Stone\u2019s.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The document is undated. It is unclear which \u201cactions\u201d are being referred to, but in 2020, mass pro-democracy protests swept the country before being violently suppressed by President Lukashenko\u2019s regime. It is not clear if Stone was aware of this pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was the filmmaker\u2019s offer to Aliyev? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his pitch to Aliyev for the \u201cOliver Stone documentary,\u201d Lopatonok underscores that the planned film would \u201chave a unique positive impact on publicity of [the] president and Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it\u2019s unclear if Aliyev ever engaged with the pitch, an expert on Eurasia said it would be in line with the strongman\u2019s previous efforts to present his regime as a dynamic, modernizing influence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Untitled Oliver Stone Documentary” pitch. Screenshot: Mikroskop Media\/ Source: OCCRP <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \nI do see it as in line with all of these potential vectors of image washing \u2014 culture, sports, those are the big ones, [and] global events, global conferences,<\/p>\nsaid Alexander Cooley, a political science professor at New York\u2019s Barnard College and an expert on Eurasian transnational networks.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Post-Soviet rulers often \u201creally want to present themselves as contemporary, worldly modernizers,\u201d he said. \u201cThese rulers have always had lobbyists\u2026 but what reputation-laundering does is give greater weight and plausibility to their claims about their modernizing intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documents obtained by reporters show that his team prepared synopses of potential films about at least six other authoritarian governments, promising two of them that Stone would interview their leaders and help tell their \u201ctrue story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the topics proposed for Stone\u2019s discussion with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were the country\u2019s \u201c\u201dsuccess\u201d under the \u201cdynastic rule\u201d of the Aliyev family, and its ongoing conflict with \u201can Armenia that is losing its stability and teetering on the edge of an abyss.\u201d A summary of the proposed film makes clear the tenor of Lopatonok\u2019s approach: It describes Aliyev as a \u201ctrue successor\u201d to his father, the previous president, who had taught him to be a \u201cwise leader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs the model of state governance chosen by Azerbaijan really so bad?\u201d the summary asks, seeming to anticipate a measure of criticism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCan you really call the existing state system in Azerbaijan a \u2018Cult of Personality\u2019? Or is it just a tribute of people\u2019s respect to a leader who was able to turn the country from poverty into one of the developed, prosperous countries?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Lopatonok wrote in the pitch that the Aliyev film would cost $15 million to produce \u2014 triple what is known to have been paid for the Nazarbayev film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did change his plans following the invasion of Ukraine? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emails between members of Lopatonok\u2019s team suggest that Stone had agreed to participate in at least one of the projects, the Lukashenko film \u2014 until the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which appears to have put a stop to his involvement. (Stone publicly spoke out against the war in March that year, saying that Russia had been \u201cwrong\u201d to invade \u2014 although he also argued that Putin had been \u201cbaited\u201d into the decision by the United States.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nUnfortunately, the [Belarus] project was put on pause because of Oliver\u2019s refusal. All the attempts to find a new interviewer were unsuccessful because of the war in Ukraine (everyone that we contacted refused). I\u2019m in a very difficult situation. <\/p>\nwrote producer Igor Kobzev to a crew member in June that year.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Kobzev did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until that roadblock, Lopatonok seemed to have hit upon a promising formula. He had assembled a small team of screenwriters and producers who churned out film ideas to pitch to dictators, making an enticing offer: copious screen time with a world-famous director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key to \u201cmonetizing\u201d the process was simple, said an insider who worked on the team, and agreed to speak with reporters on condition of anonymity. Lopatonok had figured out how to offer powerful people something they couldn\u2019t resist: Legitimacy on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThere\u2019s a star \u2014 Stone \u2014 who can be sold. That\u2019s it. They\u2019re being bought for trinkets, only the trinkets are Oliver Stone. The targets jump on it: \u2018Oh, I\u2019m with Oliver Stone! I\u2019ll be shown all over the world!\u2019<\/p>\nthe insider said<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This image of Stone as a ticket to worldwide fame may be several decades out of date. Once a critical darling and reliable engineer of box-office success, the Academy Award-winner has more recently been described by Variety magazine as a purveyor of \u201ccantankerous takes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a series of documentaries in the 2000 and 2010s, he provided a sympathetic platform for Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez to tout their leftist political programs. In 2017, he released \u201cThe Putin Interviews,\u201d a widely-discussed four-part series of conversations between Stone and Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late 2019, Stone and Lopatonok started working on \u201cQazaq: History of the Golden Man,\u201d their documentary about Nazarbayev. OCCRP and Vlast reported in 2022 that a charitable foundation controlled by Nazarbayev paid the duo at least $5 million to produce the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another synopsis, for a film focusing on Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, offered the leader a chance to tout his defense of Turkish interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin G. Hall, Kelly Bloss, Dan Mika, and Julia Wallace contributed reporting.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, and Ilham Aliyev have all been accused of horrific crimes against the citizens of the countries they rule. But where the world sees brutal dictators, filmmaker Igor Lopatonok sees opportunity. With his small team Hollywood film director Oliver Stone, Lopatonok has already implemented several controversial projects under his belt. He has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"By Vyacheslav Abramov (OCCRP\/Vlast) and Svetlana Romashkina (Vlast)","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"0","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"0","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"554","hide":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,492],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigation","category-manset"],"yoast_head":"\n
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