Volodymyr Zelensky Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Members of Stirling’s Ukrainian community took part in a ‘silent picket’ in the city centre on Tuesday following the breaching of a dam in the south of the country.

Sir Keir Starmer said his party would deal with Donald Trump if the United States chooses him as the next president.

Alex Ritman “Superpower,” the Sean Penn fronted and co-directed documentary following the Oscar-winner as he embeds himself with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the wake of Russia’s invasion, has scored new sales. Ahead of the Berlinale, where “Superpower” first premiered in 2023 while still in production, Fifth Season — which financed the film alongside Vice Studios — has unveiled broadcast deals with streamer Stan and Nine Network (Australia), Movistar Plus (Spain), HBO (CEE and Baltics), PCCW for Now TV (Hong Kong and Macau), DPG Media (Belgium), A+E Networks/History Channel (Germany) and Kyivstar TV (Ukraine).

“The White Lotus” — saying that he’s “the Kremlin’s foreign mouthpiece.”“Milos Bikovic, Serbian actor who has been supporting Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion, is now set to star in HBO’s ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3,” read a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ account.“@HBO, is it all right for you to work with a person who supports genocide & violates international law?”Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Biković, 36, shared a poll showing that trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin was higher than for Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Deadline.Biković has starred in a handful of Russian films, including “Sunstroke” (2014), directed by Oscar winner Nikita Mikhalkov. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Biković filmed a movie in Crimea, the peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.Biković was awarded Russian citizenship in 2021, when he told the Serbian media outlet Telegraf that he felt an affinity with the country’s culture, according to Deadline.In its post criticizing HBO, the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs embedded a video accusing Biković of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

TIME magazine’s choice for Person of the Year, pop star Taylor Swift, and suggested other finalists like the Trump prosecutors or the Hollywood strikers might have been more deserving of the title. “She does everything, but for me, the TIME magazine Person of the Year, used to be man of the year in 1927, when it started, it was ridiculous.

EXCLUSIVE: Sean Penn-starring Ukrainian anthology movie War Through the Eyes of Animals has wrapped shooting in LA and more details have emerged about Penn’s involvement.

Taylor Swift, Barbie and Hollywood strikers are among the nine contenders for Time’s 2023 Person of the Year, the magazine announced today.

Caroline Brew editor Time has released its 2023 Person of Year Shortlist, which includes Taylor Swift, Hollywood strikers, Trump prosecutors and Barbie among the final contenders. The Person of the Year will be announced Wednesday morning. The Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA both went on strike this year, pausing the development and filming of many shows and movies.

Early this morning a video began gaining steam online purporting that Danny Trejo refused a paid PR visit to Ukraine because President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s office wanted a “kickback” from the sum paid to the Machete actor for the visit.

Fox News will launch a weekly podcast with correspondent Benjamin Hall, devoted to telling stories of “community and compassion,” including those who helped him recover from severe injuries he suffered in Ukraine last year.

Will Tizard Contributor The 30th edition of the Camerimage Film Festival, Europe’s top cinematography event, will welcome a host of stellar guests to the Gothic Polish town of Torun, including Adam Driver, Sean Penn and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer. Driver and Penn will screen their latest films, respectively, the high-octane biopic “Ferrari” and the portrait of Eastern Europe’s most remarkable wartime president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “Superpower.” As regular fest guests have learned, the calendar of film screenings is just as important to study as the schedule for panels, seminars and masterclasses.

Sean Penn urged the White House to take a more aggressive approach toward arming Ukraine, telling a crowd at a screening of his film Superpower that those who are influencing U.S. policy “need to get out of the pure caution business.”

At this point, we’re almost two years removed from Will Smith‘s infamous on-stage slap of host Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony. So why is Sean Penn still talking about it? Well, it’s partially to drum up hype for his upcoming doc about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who wasn’t allowed to speak about Russian’s invasion of his country at the Academy Awards that year.

Will Smith‘s slap at last year’s Oscars.In a recent cover story for Variety, the Oscar-winning actor questioned why his peers stood and applauded Smith’s Best Actor win for Kind Richard, just moments after he walked onto the stage and slapped host Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair.Smith, who is subsequently serving an Oscars ban until 2032, has apologised for his outburst numerous times.“I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once.

Sean Penn will star in the Ukranian war movie “War Through the Eyes of Animals,” TheWrap has confirmed. The picture, due for release in late 2023 or early 2024, is part of a nine-part anthology that will be helmed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers concerning the ongoing conflict against Russia.

The UK’s Mae Muller has said she is “ready to get this show on the road” ahead of today's Eurovision final, after it emerged Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky had been barred from addressing the event. After months of preparation, the 25-year-old singer from north London will finally perform her track, I Wrote A Song, for the international voting public.

LABELS & PUBLISHERSUniversal Music shareholders have agreed a new pay package for boss man Lucian Grainge, which will see his basic wage reduced by more than two thirds to $5 million. He will, however, be eligible for an annual performance bonus of $10 million, and is set to receive new stock options. So, you know, he’s not going to starve.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has travelled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine.

America may be deeply divided, but politics and the culture wars will not be center stage at this year’s Oscars if the organizers have their way.

Tatiana Siegel For the past year, Volodymyr Zelensky has been greeted with open arms by awards shows, film festivals and even the New York Stock Exchange. But when it comes to landing airtime on the most coveted telecast of all — the Oscars — the Ukrainian leader is being met with a cold shoulder. For the second year in a row, the Academy has snubbed Zelensky, who was hoping to follow up his Berlin Film Festival (remote) appearance last month with a virtual spot on Sunday’s Oscar telecast on ABC. Sources say WME power agent Mike Simpson made a plea to the Academy to include the comedic actor-turned-politician but was shut down. The Academy declined comment. 

A Ukrainian expatriate group disseminated to press an open letter addressed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, questioning whether Top Gun: Maverick should be allowed to remain in this year’s Oscar race following reports the film was partly funded by a Russian oligarch who put money in the film as a silent investor in LA-based New Republic Pictures.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine and, like many people around the world, he felt helpless at the images of people fleeing their homes.“The world felt like it was in a new place that it hadn’t been in decades,” the three-time Grammy winner recalls.On Friday, the one-year anniversary of the war’s start, Paisley is releasing a new song called “Same Here,” featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking proudly about his country and people.The song is Paisley’s first from his new record, “Son of the Mountains,” to be released later this year on Universal Music Group Nashville.The West Virginia native wrote the song with Lee Thomas Miller (co-writer on Paisley hits “The World” and “Perfect Storm”) and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith. It’s a three-part narrative that reflects on universal similarities, despite distance and language.While it doesn’t mention Ukraine specifically, the song ends with Paisley and Zelenskyy in conversation, recorded during a video call.

Just after 5 AM ET on Monday, networks started to break in to regular programming for special reports that President Joe Biden had made a surprise trip to Ukraine.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Matt Damon revealed he was in the “early stages” on a project about Ukraine during the press conference for “Kiss the Future” at the Berlin Film Festival. Damon is a producer on the documentary which chronicles the struggle of Sarajevo citizens during the Bosnian War. World premiering in the Berlinale Special section, the politically minded documentary is directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and based on “Fools Rush in: A Memoir” the memoir of Bill Carter, an aid worker. It shows how his determination resulted in the enlistment of the world’s largest rock band, U2, to help shine a light. Fifth Season and WME handling worldwide sales. Asked if he was considering following the footsteps of Sean Penn with “Superpower” with a film on the war in Ukraine, he said he’s “watched as everyone has with horror that unfolded there in the last year,” and although they “don’t have anything on it right now there isn’t any doubt that we’ll be doing.”

Sean Penn has reiterated his offer to have one of his Oscars melted down by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky – saying his gift to the battling leader was inspired by his “continuing shame towards the Motion Picture Academy.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart delivered a dose of major glamour on the red carpet on Thursday as the Berlin Film Festival returned to full-scale, in-person operation for the first time since 2020. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky revived Berlin’s role as a political platform.   The Hollywood stars were greeted by packed crowds outside the Berlinale Palast and by festival co-heads Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features Sean Penn went to war and a movie broke out. That is, in effect, the story behind the making of the documentary “Superpower,” a gripping cinematic portrait of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the eve of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  Co-directed by Penn and Aaron Kaufman, who helmed the 2021 documentary “Crusaders: Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses Speak Out,” “Superpower” bows Feb. 17, out of competition, as a Berlinale Special Gala at the Berlin Film Festival. Fifth Season and Vice Studios are behind the film, with Fifth Season selling worldwide rights. “Superpower” was not conceived as a war story. Rather, Penn and Kaufman, as well as producer Billy Smith, endeavored to chart the trajectory of Zelensky’s unusual career trajectory — from actor-comedian-producer playing a history teacher elected as Ukraine’s president in the satirical TV series “Servant of the People,” to a rising political star elected as the real-life president of Ukraine in 2019. The intent was to relay a tale about an everyman — in Zelensky’s case, a Ukrainian, Russian-speaking Jew born under Soviet rule in the late 1970s — who finds himself at the helm of a fledgling democratic nation burning to embrace freedom. A Ukrainian president elected on an anti-corruption platform who, very soon post-election, finds himself in the crosshairs of an American president’s impeachment. 

Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, paid a historic visit to the UK on Wednesday — and surprised a compatriot with a hug during an impromptu moment during a press conference.

Mediaset CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi has given his verdict on an upcoming video appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Italy’s iconic Sanremo song festival, adding fuel to an ongoing political debate around the operation.

The Oscars declined to give a platform to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year, but the Golden Globes made up for it tonight, offering him an opportunity to speak directly to an American and world audience.

Judy Woodruff will step away from the PBS NewsHour anchor desk on Friday, ending a chapter as one of the most trusted and well respected figures helming a newscast.

UPDATE: During a photo op in the Oval Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a medal to Joe Biden that an Army officer wanted to give to the U.S. president as a thank you.

Time has selected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “and the spirit of Ukraine” as its Person of the Year.

Rishi Sunak showed his support to President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Ukraine today.

Fifth Season, the company formerly known as Endeavor Content, is bulking up its non-scripted and documentary business.

In yet another sign of the continued resilience and determination of the Ukrainian people, the fifth edition of the Ukrainian National Film Critics Circle Award, dubbed Kinokolo, pressed ahead with its ceremony on Thursday, in spite of an ongoing war in the country.