Hollywood is cutting depictions of Putin out of movies for fear of Russian 'retaliation'

Hollywood is shying away from portraying Russian President Vladimir Putin in upcoming movies, apparently for fear of retribution. The Hollywood Reporter revealed Wednesday that Putin portrayals were cut from Fox's Red Sparrow and EuropaCorp's Kursk, even though Putin appeared in both of the books on which the respective movies are based. Fox cited "creative choices" for cutting Putin -- who played a "key role" in the book -- out of Red Sparrow, which is set in the present-day and centers around ...