How Zelenskiy became Hollywood's man of the hour | Volodymyr Zelenskiy | The Guardian
From Ben Stiller to Jessica Chastain, celebrities have embraced Ukraine’,s president and offered support to the country’,s war effort
How Zelenskiy became Hollywood's man of the hour.
Stiller is one in a line of stars from the entertainment world who made the long journey to Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy – himself a former actor and comedian.
A journey that involves an overnight train journey from Poland as commercial flights – let alone private jets – cannot fly in Ukraine's airspace for safety reasons.
Before Stiller came the actor Sean Penn, who has visited three times since the invasion, and is making a documentary about the war, in which Zelenskiy will no doubt feature.
Sean Penn handed his Oscar to the president as a symbol of faith in Ukraine's victory.
The statue will remain in the country until the end of the war.
Photograph: Presidential Press Service/EPA.
On his last visit, Penn gave Zelenskiy one of his Oscars to keep until after Ukraine's victory.
It was Penn's way of demonstrating how much he believes the president and the country will survive this war.
"I feel terrible.
This is for you.
It's just a symbolic silly thing, but if I know this is here with you then I'll feel better and stronger for the fight," Penn told Zelenskiy in November.
Other stars hosted by Zelenskiy include the British adventurist Bear Grylls, the Virgin founder, Richard Branson, the actor Jessica Chastain, U2's Bono, the TV host David Letterman, the Spanish-American celebrity chef José Andrés and the historian Timothy Snyder.
Angelina Jolie and the 1980s action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, who did shoots in Kyiv for a Netflix production two years ago, have also visited Ukraine to meet refugees and troops.
Van Damme posed for videos with Ukrainian soldiers in December, giving the traditional Ukrainian war cry, "Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes." Volodymyr Zelenskiy met actor Jessica Chastain in Kyiv in August.
Photograph: AP.
And there are many more celebrities who have yet to make the visit to Ukraine but have been using their platforms to raise funds.
The Ukrainian-born actor Mila Kunis and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, who were friends with the Zelenskiys before the war, raised more than $30m at the beginning of the war.
The Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who volunteered to become one of the faces for the Zelenskiys' fundraising platform, United24, has just become the English-language voice of the Ukraine-wide air raid alert system app.
According to those who have followed and been involved in Zelenskiy's communications efforts, it was the president who kept Hollywood following events after the initial media spike subsided.
"He's a natural at orating because of his background," said Nikki Fowler, the president of the Hollywood Critics Association, who is also half-Ukrainian.
"I think that resonates with a lot of celebrities." Angelina Jolie visits an injured child in Ukraine's Lviv region in April after the Kramatorsk railway station missile strike.
Photograph: Paul Conroy/EPA.
Hollywood "respects" Zelenskiy because for them he's a real-life hero, according to Fowler.
"When you're able to have access to a real-life hero, [the type] that you just don't see in movies, who would not want to support that?" Zelenskiy's journey has been "life imitating art" and has intrigued not only Hollywood but the US in general, said Fowler.
The Hollywood Reporter journalist Etan Vlessing said Zelenskiy's ability to "command the 24-hour news cycle using social media and video addresses has generated major respect and props in Hollywood, rather than fleeting fame".
This year, Zelenskiy's address at Cannes received a standing ovation.
Time magazine, Politico and the Financial Times made him their person of the year.
Outside Ukraine's parliament, in perhaps a nod to his past as an actor, Zelenskiy created a Ukrainian Walk of Fame.
Those deemed the biggest supporters of Ukraine have been honoured with a plaque.
Penn, Andrés are among those featured alongside politicians such as the UK's Boris Johnson, who became a celebrity in Ukraine during his tenure, as well as the leaders of Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the EU.
U2's Bono inspected damage to a residential area in the Ukrainian town of Irpin, near Kyiv, in May.
Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty.
"As a former actor, Zelenskiy appreciates the power of actors, especially from Hollywood," according to his previous press secretary Iuliia Mendel, the author of the book The Fight of Our Lives.
"It made Ukraine more popular [worldwide]." Mendel was among those who helped organise channels of communication with celebrities, including Elon Musk, who was at first an avid supporter of Ukraine, before adopting what some saw as a more pro-Russian line.
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