It was a Hollywood director with access to a president Russian journalists could only dream of, and United States filmmaker Oliver Stone was not shy in directing Russian president Vladimir Putin on how he wanted his televised interview to look and sound.
But Mr Stone's late-night conversations with the former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for 17 years as prime minister or president has angered expatriate Russian critics in Australia.
Monash University international-economics lecturer Dr Gennadi Kazakevitch says it was a wasted opportunity to ask tough questions.
"But broadcasting four hours of, like, homage to Putin, I don't know why. I would like to see, if somebody has once-in-a-lifetime access to Putin for that many continuous days of interviewing, that they would bring the truth. But they did not."
Instead, he says, the interviews provided a platform for Mr Putin to mislead the Western world on important issues like the Russian economy and the country's political system.
"That Russia is a vibrant democracy with proper elections and with a multi-party system, which we know is not the truth. What's the point to do what he has done if he cannot show the truth, if he cannot ask hard questions? I really don't know."
Some Ukrainians are outraged Vladimir Putin appeared on SBS, asserting the 2014 revolution was a coup d'état.
Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Vjatrovych works for Ukraine's National Institute of Remembrance and says the interviews are just propaganda.
"I believe this is not just another version of events that are happening in Ukraine. We believe this is an element of propaganda by Putin against Ukraine."
Volodymyr Vjatrovych says Oliver Stone is not a journalist and the encounter was staged to make it look like an interview.
He says there were no challenges to assertions such as, "Russia has a claim to Crimea."
"The events in Crimea are an obvious aggression of Russia against Ukraine. It is not, as Putin presents it, the return of Russian territory back to Russia."
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