Filmmaker RJ Cutler talks about his Dick Cheney documentary

Depending on whom you’re asking, Dick Cheney is either the epitome of evil, synonymous with “enhanced interrogation” and warrantless surveillance, or the crusader for American safety that kept the country free from terror after Sept. 11.

To documentarian RJ Cutler ("The September Issue"), Cheney is, above all, a man of great significance. Cutler's new doc "The World According to Dick Cheney" gives the former veep a chance to tell his story in his own words, which are colored with the testimony of allies and critics, and some tough questions.

"The idea was: 'Here is a man who is as significant a non-presidential political figure as this country has ever known,'" Cutler says. "He's still with us. To hear, to understand, his life and times and his impact on America and the world, and to understand the implications of his actions for our democracy and what his career says about democracy, history would best be served by having his view of it on the record."

amNewYork spoke with Cutler about the movie, which premieres Friday on Showtime.