KYIV, Ukraine — He has spoken with two film stars by video name from the bombarded and encircled metropolis of Kyiv.
His aides lobbied the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences for an Oscar night time present of help. He rereleased his personal tv present on Netflix in the course of the battle.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, the actor turned wartime chief of Ukraine, has devoted most of his public appearances to appeals to Western nations for deadly weaponry to battle the Russians: tanks, jets and missiles.
However Mr. Zelensky, who earlier than he turned president had starred in romantic comedies and carried out stand-up routines, has additionally pressed for celebrities and artists to talk up for his nation, in what aides say is a worthwhile effort to solidify Ukraine’s international tender energy benefit over Russia.
“We dwell within the fashionable world, and we all know that opinion makers and celebrities are necessary,” mentioned Ekaterine Zguladze, a former deputy minister of inside now concerned within the Ukrainian authorities’s effort to win help from artists, musicians and celebrities. “Not solely politicians form the world.”
Ms. Zguladze added: “Proper now, there exists real solidarity world wide for Ukraine. And this solidarity is just not due to the heartbreaking pictures of destroyed cities and human tragedy, however due to the values all of us share.”
However Ukraine’s attraction to the academy, the group that awards the Oscars, has encountered drama of its personal.
Earlier than the present, organizers mentioned the battle could be famous and the human toll honored, however had not dedicated to a video look by Mr. Zelensky, mentioned Brian Keith Etheridge, a sitcom author primarily based in Los Angeles. He helped coordinate the Ukrainian authorities’s outreach to the academy, with assist from Mila Kunis, an actress of Ukrainian origin, and her husband, Ashton Kutcher.
“The priority that we have been instructed is, they don’t need to overly politicize the present,” Mr. Etheridge mentioned. “If Zelensky simply says ‘thanks’ it would remind folks, and it might increase thousands and thousands of {dollars}. It’s such a large platform simply to have his face present up.”
Sean Penn, who had been filming a documentary in Ukraine when the battle broke out, has known as for a boycott of the Oscars if Mr. Zelensky is just not permitted to look by video and vowed to smelt his personal awards if the academy snubs the Ukrainian chief. The award statues are fabricated from gold-plated bronze.
If the Oscar producers don’t enable an look for “the management in Ukraine, who’re taking bullets and bombs for us, together with the Ukrainian youngsters that they’re attempting to guard, then I feel each single a type of folks, and each little bit of that call, may have been probably the most obscene second in all of Hollywood historical past,” Mr. Penn instructed CNN in an interview.
Talking at a information convention on Thursday, the producers mentioned they supposed to commemorate the battle’s toll however didn’t decide to a video look by Mr. Zelensky.
“We’re going to be very considerate about how we acknowledge the place we’re on this planet,” Will Packer, a producer of the Oscar ceremony, mentioned Thursday at a information convention.
Of a doable look by Mr. Zelensky, he mentioned: “The present is within the course of, in order that’s not one thing that we’d definitively say a method or one other at this level. As I’ve talked about earlier than, we need to be enjoyable and celebratory, however we definitely are going to do this in a respectful approach.”
The comedic actress Wanda Sykes, one of many ceremony’s co-hosts, famous of Mr. Zelensky, “Isn’t he busy proper now?”
Whereas Mr. Zelensky’s aides have pressed for help in the course of the present in no matter kind it takes, searching for any avenue to win public backing within the West, the worth of movie star help in a taking pictures battle is just not universally acknowledged in Ukraine.
“In the end, it’s necessary what is occurring on the bottom,” Oleksandr Danylyuk, a former secretary of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, mentioned. “Everyone is doing what they’ll. I don’t know if yet another speech of Zelensky will make a distinction. But it surely’s good those that provoke it need to do it. Everyone needs to assist in any approach doable.”
However Mr. Danylyuk mentioned that “ultimately, you want outcomes,” like provides of fighter jets, tanks or missiles for the Ukrainian Military.
Mr. Zelensky has pressed on all fronts to convey to a broad viewers, and notably to international locations which can be offering weaponry, the ethical crucial of supporting Ukraine within the battle.
“Usually, Zelensky is basically following the information from Hollywood and in search of alternatives for help,” Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the president’s chief of employees, mentioned in an interview.
The push for backing for Ukraine in the course of the Oscars started per week in the past, after Mr. Zelensky spoke on a video name from Kyiv with Mr. Kutcher and Ms. Kunis, to thank the couple for elevating $35 million for Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian assist in a GoFundMe marketing campaign, Mr. Leshchenko mentioned.
Ms. Kunis most not too long ago starred in “Breaking Information in Yuba County” and has a deliberate film launch by Netflix, “Luckiest Lady Alive.”
“Ukrainians are proud and courageous individuals who deserve our assist in their time of want,” she wrote within the fund-raising attraction. “This unjust assault on Ukraine and humanity at giant is devastating and the Ukrainian folks want our help.”
After the video name, Mr. Zelensky’s aides sought a last-minute slot on the Oscar ceremony.
Mr. Zelensky has all the time had a eager sense of picture and storytelling in politics. Earlier this month, he mentioned he was conscious that his repeated televised appeals for resistance, and continued presence within the beleaguered capital, had turned him into an emblem of bravery in lots of international locations.
The Oscars are additionally a pure match for an attraction by his authorities for humanitarian help, as lots of his high aides are additionally film business veterans.
The chief of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, was a media lawyer and film producer. The pinnacle of the home intelligence company, Ivan Bakanov, had been the director of the Kvartal 95 studio. A chief presidential adviser, Serhiy Shefir, was a screenwriter and producer whose main credit included successful romantic comedy movie, “Eight First Dates,” and a tv sequence, “The In-laws.”
Earlier than turning into president of Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky performed a president in his personal tv sequence, “Servant of the Folks,” which was rereleased on Netflix this month. The character, a instructor, is propelled to the presidency after he goes on a tirade towards corruption, which is filmed by his college students in a video that goes viral.
Maria Varenikova contributed reporting from Kyiv, and Matt Stevens from New York.