Guy Ritchie wants to do a topless photo shoot with Vladimir Putin.

The 46-year-old filmmaker has an ''obsession'' with chopping wood which he believes he shares with the controversial Russian President, so thinks they should pair up for a steamy set of snaps to show off their masculinity and passion for chopping down trees.

Asked how he spends his time off, he said: ''Chopping wood. I like chopping wood. I've got a wood obsession at the moment. I'm sort of becoming a part-time lumberjack. Either that, or I do quite like the Maldives.''

And when questioned on how his new Cold War movie 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', would be marketed in Russia given the risky topic, the director - who wed his second wife, model Jacqui Ainsley last month - suggested the nation's leader could partake in a series of strange promotional photos with him to indicate relations between the East and West have thawed.

He told Shortlist magazine: ''He likes chopping wood, too. I think we could share a photoshoot, both of us there with our tops off. Or have tigers. Or be riding horses, with axes tied to our backs.''