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The daring 737 pilot behind the “Miracle Over the Mojave,” Nathan Fielder, recently popped by CNN’s The Situation Room to discuss his theories concerning airline safety, as seen in the most recent season of The Rehearsal.

He was joined by the HBO show’s resident expert, former National Transportation Safety Board member, and recent National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, John Goglia — because roping senior citizens into joining him in his wacky causes is Fielder’s M.O.

For more than 15 minutes, Fielder chatted with hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, noting that his concerns about problematic power dynamics in cockpits could also be applied to cable news anchors. “Pamela, I’m sure you don’t say some things to Wolf,” Fielder suggested, reasoning that the famous anchor might be somewhat intimidating because he’s “in movies. He’s in Mission: Impossible.”

Fielder, sporting a cap reading “737,” also addressed the...

Season Two of The Rehearsal may be done, but the discourse is far from over.

Since the finale aired on Sunday night, the winner of Nathan Fielder’s fake singing competition has called out another contestant for criticizing the show, and fans have been busy poring over flight data in an effort to figure out whether or not Fielder actually flew a plane full of passengers from the San Bernardino airport last February.

Now actual U.S. lawmakers are weighing on the show.

In the penultimate episode of The Rehearsal, Fielder speaks before a recreation of the congressional aviation subcommittee, and later meets with one of its actual senior members, Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee. Fielder is seemingly only able to access Cohen by pretending to hold a meeting on autism awareness, then suddenly pivoting to his presentation about cockpit etiquette. In Fielder’s pitch, airline captains and co-pilots would...

The Hollywood Reporter‘s New York Power Broker Awards are back for the fourth year of celebrating the biggest sellers in the Big Apple.

The event — presented by The Society Group, the PR purveyors of power brokers and properties, and sponsored by the AD100-honored full-suite furnishing firm Ash Staging — will take place at a private members club on April 16. Selling the City stars Eleonora Srugo and Steve Gold will host the celebration, after Jason Oppenheim and Mary Bonnet of Selling Sunset, Fredrik Eklund of Million Dollar Listing and Mauricio Umansky of Buying Beverly Hills have all previously hosted the L.A. Power Broker Awards.

Guests will enjoy elevated cocktails and canapés, followed by the awards presentation where this year’s winners will be announced. The awards spotlight the top 30 agents who’ve redefined excellence in high-stakes deals, media influence, historic preservation and philanthropic leadership. All nominees were featured on...

A new Piano Man documentary is on its way. On Wednesday, HBO announced Billy Joel: And So It Goes, a two-part documentary about the artist’s life and music and the meaning behind his songwriting.

Susan Lacy — who created American Masters and directed the Spielberg documentary for HBO — will also produce and direct the two-part film meant to be an “expansive portrait of the life and music of Billy Joel,” according to its official synopsis.

“For those who think they know Joel’s story, as well as those who are not as familiar,...

Over 40 years after HBO aired his Live From Long Island special, the cable network is back in business with Billy Joel.

The Piano Man star is the subject of a two-part documentary – Billy Joel: And So It Goes – that will launch this summer.

The two-part is directed by Susan Lacy, who created PBS’ American Masters series and has directed HBO docs Jane Fonda in Five Acts and Spielberg, and Jessica Levin, who produced those docs as well as The Janes.

The doc will explore the life and music of Billy Joel, exploring the love, loss, and personal struggles that fuel his songwriting, per the logline. It includes access to never-before-seen performances, home movies, and personal photographs, along with one-on-one interviews.

It comes after Joel revealed that he was postponing months of touring due to a medical condition.

Joel has been the subject of a number of documentaries in the past...

Elegance Bratton’s “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” will open the 10th edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on April 30.

The doc, which premiered at Sundance 2025, charts the rise of house music. The film recounts how the Disco Sucks movement led to the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, which resulted in thousands of people throwing records, mostly by Black artists, into a bonfire. The doc highlights Vince Lawrence, who was working as an usher at Demolition Night. Lawrence reveals how the event led him to become one of the founding innovators of house music.

Doc10, a five-day fest running April 30-May 4, will feature a selection of 11 of the past year’s most acclaimed feature documentaries. They include Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim and Nyle Dimarco’s recent SXSW audience award winner “Deaf President Now!” and Elizabeth Lo’s “Mistress Dispeller,” which premiered at...

Comedian and four-time Saturday Night Live guest host Chris Rock touched on several current events in his monologue, at one point previewing how the next Trump administration will carry out deportations with the help of Maga devotee Elon Musk.

First, though, Rock took issue with complaints about Trump being “undignified” while in office.

“Dude. It’s the United States,” joked Rock, who was making his first SNL appearance since the Season 46 finale in May 2021. “We’ve had some presidents in the United States. Come on, man. This is not the...

One word is on the lips of every broker in NYC, and they’ve all got an opinion.

“The elections always bring uncertainty into the equation,” says Douglas Elliman star Fredrik Eklund. Agrees fellow Elliman broker Steven Cohen, “The real estate market is averse to volatility and historically slows down as we approach the elections.

“I think activity will remain low until at least later this year, after the election,” concurs Nobel Black, also of Elliman. But says Compass’ Matt Breitenbach, “The Hamptons real estate market will be fine despite macroeconomic pressure and presidential elections.”

But no matter what’s in the crystal ball for the remainder of 2024, one thing is clear: New York’s power sellers again made their marks over the past year. Despite high interest rates, inflation and competition with South Florida, Manhattan continued to see jaw-dropping sales at buildings the Central Park Tower, where Elliman’s...

A high-profile investor has disclosed a significant stake in Fox Corp.

Steve Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire and owner of the New York Mets on Tuesday revealed that his firm, Point72, now owns about 5 percent of Fox’s shares, with a market value of about $350 million as of writing.

Point72 owns just shy of 10 million shares, with another 2.37 million exercisable in options. The company disclosed the holdings on a form 13G with the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggesting that it is a passive investment (active investments are usually filed on form 13D).

While Cohen is one of the most high-profile investors in the country (the character of Bobby “Axe” Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions is loosely based on Cohen), he is not known for running activist campaigns. Instead, Point72 is known for identifying opportunistic investments that other firms may have missed, and making large, concentrated bets on them.

In the case of Fox,...

The Craig Gillespie directorial venture Dumb Money is a prime example of how a movie about characters involved in technical stuff should be made. Based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, the 2023 film is the story of a few retail investors who began to buy stocks of a video game store called GameStop and how that impacted the billion-dollar hedge fund managers who made their money primarily through ‘short selling’. The performances are great, and the pacing, the cinematography, and the overall setting surely remind one of David Fincher’s The Social Network. Funny that this film is based on a book with almost the same name! The casting is spot on, and with a great background score, the movie creates an atmosphere where this big fish vs. little fish fight really becomes palpable, even though the jargon might go over our heads.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?...

Pete Davidson, Paul Dano in Dumb Money Image: Sony If there’s one thing HBO’s Industry and the Oscar-winning The Big Short have taught me, it’s that no matter how many times characters explain the ins and outs of the stock market, I will forever remain immune to its intricacies.

When it comes to dramatic storytelling, few shows do it better than Showtime's "Billions." Premiering in 2016, the series initially followed U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and hedge fund CEO Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Damian Lewis) in a cat-and-mouse game involving financial crimes, determined (and oft-corrupt) government officials, dysfunctional families, obsession, and tested loyalties. While taking some license to push the narrative and give each character a unique personality, "Billions" also highlights the real worlds of federal prosecutors and high finance. The first season and its two main characters were allegedly loosely inspired by the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara's case against Sac Capital Advisors founder Steven Cohen for insider trading.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, depicting these complicated worlds as accurately as possible was important to "Billions" co-creators and writers Andrew Ross Sorkin, Brian Koppelman, and David Levien, who...

Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen are directing.

Participant and Actual Films in association with Chicago Media Project are producing a documentary on the use of experimental psychedelics in the treatment of Ptsd and traumatic brain injuries in Navy Seal veterans.

Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen are directing the feature, which follows a group of former SEALs battling with trauma, physical pain and suicidal thoughts who undertake a cutting-edge psychedelic treatment.

Jessica Anthony produces and executive producers are Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann, Actual Films’ Justine Nagan, and Chicago Media Project’s Paula Froehle, Steven Cohen, Shizuka Asakawa and Kent McCleerey.

An untitled documentary about the experimental use of psychedelics to treat former Navy SEALs’ traumatic brain injuries and Ptsd is in the works from Participant.

The project, produced by Participant, Actual Films and Chicago Media Project, will depict U.S. special operation veterans as they seek the controversial, transformative treatment.

Following former Navy SEALs who suffer from anxiety, pain and suicidal thoughts, the documentary finds the veterans at their breaking points, which leads them to the cutting edge of alternative treatments. The documentary uses interviews, archival footage, animation and intimate verité to depict the soldiers’ stories, as well as the groundbreaking research on the ancient natural medicines taking place at the Bay Area-based Brain Stimulation Lab.

The documentary features veteran Marcus Capone, who has struggled to acclimate to civilian life. His wife Amber sent him out of the country to receive a lifesaving psychedelic treatment — which includes ibogaine and 5-MeO-dmt...

The use of experimental psychedelic drugs by former Navy SEALs and other U.S. special operation veterans to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) and traumatic brain injuries will get a spotlight in an untitled documentary in the works from Participant, Actual Films and Chicago Media Project.

The film, directed by Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen, will tackle groundbreaking treatments involving psychedelics amid evidence that the incidence of suicide among former military members who either experienced or witnessed traumatic combat is four times higher than the number of U.S. soldiers killed during active military operations.

The documentary will feature Marcus Capone, a former Navy Seal left with post traumatic symptoms, like depression and rage, after taking part in special operations. He and his wife Amber founded the nonprofit Vets to help U.S. veterans tap psychedelic assisted therapies as a lifeline.

“Over the years, we have been honored to share...

Adult Swim has canceled Tuca & Bertie, the toon series starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, after two seasons, according to series creator Lisa Hanawalt. The cable net had rescued the show following its 2019 cancellation by Netflix after one season.

The series about the friendship between Tuca (Haddish), a cocky, carefree toucan, and Bertie (Wong), an anxious, daydreaming songbird, aired two seasons on Adult Swim after one on Netflix. Steven Yeun also starred.

Related: ‘Solar Opposites’ Renewed For Fifth Season By Hulu

“Tuca & Bertie has sadly been canceled,” EP Hanawalt wrote on Twitter today, adding later: “I still have a beautiful and weird ending to T&b in mind, hopefully someday we’ll get the chance to finish their story.” Read her full post below.

The move comes after Season 2 saw an increase in both teen viewers (12-17) and young female (18-24) viewers to the network – up +65 and +38, respectively,...

MrBallen, internet storyteller of “strange, dark, and mysterious” tales, has signed an exclusive content deal with Amazon.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three-year deal is “wide-reaching” and will principally see MrBallen’s podcast become exclusive to Amazon Music starting Nov. 1.

For those unfamiliar, MrBallen (aka former Navy Seal John Allen) has gained nearly 7 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 8 million followers on TikTok by sharing unnerving—and often true—stories of crime and creepy encounters.

Allen began uploading to YouTube in 2020, launched his podcast in February of this year, and in July founded a nonprofit that, among other efforts, gives quarterly grants of up to 25,000 to organizations supporting victims of violent crimes and their families.

@mrballen Huge announcment + giveaway! Use #MrBallenGiveaway ♬ original sound – MrBallen

Since launch, MrBallen Podcast has regularly topped Spotify’s true crime charts, and per The Verge generates around 7 million downloads per month.

Allen and...

MrBallen, storyteller of the “strange, dark, and mysterious” on YouTube, has brought in former Cadence13 vice president Steven Cohen to lead sales for his studio, MrBallen Productions. Cohen will be focused on leading MrBallen Productions’ “rapidly expanding sales division and broadening monetization streams from direct and agency advertising, as well as partnership opportunities for one […]

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

During his time at Warner Bros. Discovery’s scrappy Turner Sports division, Will Funk helped put together “The Match,” a new celebrity golf tournament,and managed ad sales for March Madness, one of the nation’s top sports events. Now, he’s hoping to try something new.

Funk, one of the industry’s most influential sports-media executives, is leaving Turner to take a role as president of Range Sports, a new athletics-focused division of Range Media Partners, a talent-management start-up that launched last year under founder and CAA alumni Peter Micelli. The company counts Steven A. Cohen’s Point72 private-equity firm and A+E Networks as investors.

“We have had the pleasure of working with Will on various projects over the years, and each time, understood why he is one of the most respected minds in the world of Sports IP,” said Jack Whigham, a co-founding partner at Range. “The creativity,...

It has been nearly two years since a group of the best and brightest young agents and partners told their bosses they were stepping away from their million-dollar salaries to follow former eOne strategy officer and CAA television veteran Peter Micelli and be the founding partners of a new management company, Range Media Partners.

They made their dramatic pivot at the height of industry instability; movie theaters remained closed from Covid, production was slow to rebound as no one was writing Covid policies, and that meant no completion bonds; and studio tentpoles were being unloaded to streamers. The rep business was also in flux, with the WGA bent on eradicating the packages and affiliated productions that had increasingly fueled agency coffers.

So, a consortium of agents from CAA, UTA, WME and other firms, repping such A-listers as Bradley Cooper, Tom Hardy, Keira Knightley, Emilia Clarke and Ramy Youssef, decided to embrace change,...

Exclusive: Imagine Documentaries and Impact Partners have partnered on the feature documentary Paper & Glue. It is directed by renowned French artist Jr about a very personal subject: his own artwork. Using unexpected canvasses, Jr’s intention is to give a global voice to everyday people through a genre-blending combination of public art, photography and large-format spectacle.

The film will make its debut at one of the spring festivals, and I hear that will likely be at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

From early illicit graffiti videos captured on Paris rooftops at night to a monumental portrait set on the U.S.-Mexico border wall to a current collaboration in a California supermax prison, Paper & Glue uses the power of collaborative art to uplift communities and inspire self-expression. Told through Jr’s first-person accounts, the film uses his vast personal archives to revisit and reveal rare behind-the-scenes moments in his...

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-tn) said that he had no contact with the team behind Judas and the Black Messiah before he and other lawmakers reintroduced a bill to strip J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the FBI building.

“The movie is a clear depiction of his efforts to impede the civil rights movement,” Cohen said in an interview.

Award season typically sees a smattering of topical movies screened before lawmakers in D.C. or at the White House, but that hasn’t happened this year due to Covid-19 restrictions. Cohen said he watched the movie about three weeks ago and, inspired by it, called his staff the next day to work on reintroducing the legislation.

The movie tells the story of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), who served as an FBI informant to help silence him. The movie...

HBO unveiled the official trailer for “Allen v. Farrow” on Tuesday, in the lead-up to the February 21 premiere of the upcoming four-part documentary exploring the abuse allegations against Woody Allen.

The documentary, from filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, aims to offer a deep-dive into the the accusation of sexual abuse against Woody Allen involving Dylan, his then seven-year-old daughter with Mia Farrow; their subsequent custody trial, the revelation of Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s daughter, Soon-Yi; and the controversial aftermath in the years that followed. Though Allen has never been charged with a crime despite multiple investigations, the scandal has persisted as one of Hollywood’s most public controversies.

Per HBO, “Allen v. Farrow” will interweave new investigative work, intimate home movie footage, court documents, police evidence, revelatory videotape and never-before-heard audio tapes, as well as interviews with Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow, Ronan Farrow, family friend Carly Simon,...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that large venues in the state would reopen in limited capacity to audience members on February 23rd, NBC News reports.

Ticket holders who provide a negative Pcr test within 72 hours of an event will be able to attend events at arenas and stadiums with a capacity of more than 10,000 people, although event capacity will be kept at a strict 10 percent. Additionally, venues eligible for reopening will have to submit their plans to the State Department of Health for approval, and attendees will...

Piecing together home movies, court documents, police evidence and never-before-heard audio tapes, HBO is releasing docuseries “Allen v. Farrow” — which examines the decades-long story behind the sexual abuse allegations against Woody Allen involving his daughter Dylan — on Feb. 21. The series will also stream on HBO Max.

The four-part HBO Documentary Films investigative docuseries comes from filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, and follows the abuse allegation, the subsequent custody trial, Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s daughter Soon-Yi, and the aftermath of the trauma on the family in the years that followed.

“Allen v. Farrow” features exclusive, in-depth interviews with Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow, and Ronan Farrow, as well as family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators, experts and other eyewitnesses.

In addition to taking an closer look at Farrow and Allen’s personal and professional relationship, having made 13 films together, the series also takes a...

The story of Woody Allen’s notorious relationship with Mia Farrow and family is being explored in a four-part documentary for HBO.

The WarnerMedia cable network has ordered Allen v. Farrow from Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, the team behind HBO Max’s documentary On the Record, which examines the sexual assault allegations against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

The series will explore the scandals behind the couple’s relationship including the accusation of sexual abuse against Allen involving Dylan, his then-7-year-old daughter with Farrow; their subsequent custody trial; the revelation of Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s daughter, Soon-Yi; and the controversial aftermath in the years that followed.

It will premiere on Sunday, February 21, and you can watch a teaser trailer below.

It will interweave new investigative work, pieced together from intimate home-movie footage, court documents, police evidence, revelatory videotape and never-before-heard audio tapes, with exclusive, in-depth...

The Woody Allen scandal will again be brought into the spotlight, this time in a new four-part documentary series coming to HBO later this month called “Allen v. Farrow.”

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the documentarians behind the Russell Simmons exposé “On the Record,” will direct the docuseries along with producer Amy Herdy. The series aims to examine the private story behind the accusations of sexual abuse against the Oscar-winning filmmaker involving his daughter Dylan Farrow, his then 7-year-old child with his ex, actress Mia Farrow.

A teaser for the series (above) shows the filmmakers sitting down with Mia Farrow alongside archival clips and photos of the family and the revelation of Allen’s relationship and marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, whom Farrow had adopted with her previous husband André Previn in 1978.

“Who on Earth could believe that about Woody Allen?” Farrow says in the trailer for “Allen v. Farrow.” “I couldn’t believe it.

A number of agents from CAA, WME and UTA are departing their respective agencies and joining forces with former CAA agent Peter Micelli, who is launching a new management and production company, Variety has confirmed.

CAA’s Dave Bugliari, Michael Cooper, Jack Whigham, and Mick Sullivan are part of the new venture. Whigham was a co-head of the motion picture department, while Bugliari was a motion picture talent department co-head.

WME’s Rich Cook and UTA’s Susie Fox, Chelsea McKinnies, Lucinda Moorhead and Mackenzie Roussos are also on board, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The move comes in the wake of layoffs and furloughs at the major agencies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which saw around 90 CAA agents and 275 support staffers face pink slips across the agency’s Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and London offices in late July. WME parent Endeavor has cut staff and UTA...

Exclusive Update: Deadline has confirmed several more who’ll be part of the dozen or so principal agents turning manager/producers and joining this venture being hatched by Pete Micelli with hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen and two other major financing sources. A big name to add is Rich Cook, a star WME lit agent who ran the motion picture lit department for the agency before moving temporarily to London and repping his clients from there. Also joining are four sharp UTA agents (at least two are partners) on the television side: Mackenzie Roussos, Susie Fox, Chelsea Mckinnies, and Lucinda Moorhead. There will be much more to discuss, including which clients will become repped by the management company and how that will work with the agencies they are leaving. This is happening in real time and some of the participants are clearing themselves from their agencies to make this move,...

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez would need some deep-pocketed partners to pull off a purchase of the New York Mets.

The superstar couple may have identified one of them in Quogue Capital founder Wayne Rothbaum, who is in talks with the engaged former baseball star and his recording artist and actor fiancé about joining their bid group, a person familiar with the matter told Sportico.

Rothbaum, who three years ago unsuccessfully bid on the Miami Marlins — which were eventually sold to a group that included Rodriguez’s former New York Yankees teammate, Derek Jeter — didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The person was granted anonymity because the matter is private.

A-Rod, as the ex-baseball star is known, also approached another Marlins bidder, Jorge Mas, about joining the bid group. Mas, who controls Miami’s Major League Soccer team, declined, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Rothbaum has...

Retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his fiancé, recording artist and actor Jennifer Lopez, have retained JPMorgan Chase to raise capital for a possible bid on the New York Mets, people familiar with the matter said.

The superstar couple is working with managing director Eric Menell, the bank’s co-head of North American media investment banking, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the matter is private. Menell didn’t respond to several requests seeking comment.

Representatives for Rodriguez and Lopez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Wilpon family, which owns the Mets, said in December they were in talks to sell up to 80% of the Major League Baseball team to hedge fund titan Steve Cohen in a deal that valued the club at $2.6 billion. Under terms of that proposed deal, the Wilpons would’ve maintained control of the franchise for five years.

Negotiations fell apart...

Actor Kirk Douglas was honored by the House of Representatives in celebration of his 99th birthday. The House of Representatives honored his life as an activist and for his role...

Cult movie classic ‘Pretty Poison’ filmmaker Noel Black dead at 77 (photo: Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins in ‘Pretty Poison’) Noel Black, best remembered for the 1968 cult movie classic Pretty Poison, died of pneumonia at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on July 5, 2014. Black (born on June 30, 1937, in Chicago) was 77. Prior to Pretty Poison, Noel Black earned praise for the 18-minute short film Skaterdater (1965), the tale of a boy skateboarder who falls for a girl bike rider. Shot on the beaches of Los Angeles County, the dialogue-less Skaterdater went on to win the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and tied with Orson Welles’ Falstaff - Chimes at Midnight for the Technical Grand Prize at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. Besides, Skaterdater received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Short Subject, Live Action category. (The Oscar winner that year was Claude Berri’s Le Poulet.) ‘Pretty Poison’: Fun and games and...

Time is money -- and an hour of Guy Fieri's is apparently worth tens of thousands of dollars. According to a new book featured in the New York Post's Page Six, the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host was paid a whopping $100,000 just to hang out with billionaire Steven Cohen for a day. The book, Allen Salkin's From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, claims Cohen paid the splashy chef to reenact an episode of his hit show in Connecticut. Page Six quotes Salkin as saying that the [...]...

Moscow -- The head of a U.S. congressional delegation said Sunday that its meetings in Russia showed there was "nothing specific" that could have helped prevent the Boston Marathon bombings, but that the two countries need to work more closely on joint security threats.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who led the six-member delegation, described discussions with Russian parliament members and security officials as productive. Some of the meetings, he said, were made possible by American actor Steven Seagal.

Seagal, who attended the news conference in the U.S. Embassy, is well connected in Russia. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, and last week paid a visit to Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman who rules Chechnya, a province in southern Russia that has seen two brutal wars between federal troops and Chechen separatists since 1994.

Those wars spawned an Islamic insurgency that spread across the Caucasus region,...