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00:00 We went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day,
00:03 our first day of shooting with President Zelensky.
00:06 I must have been asleep about 10 minutes
00:08 by the time the first rocket hit the city.
00:10 And so everything changed.
00:12 And then he kept the meeting with us the next day
00:14 and we started shooting this film.
00:17 The film we'd set out to make was not meant
00:19 to encounter an existential threat to democracy,
00:22 just a spirited story of a comedy superstar
00:25 turned president.
00:26 Be careful.
00:28 The average amount of people traveling,
00:31 part of our crew were between three and five.
00:36 A total of seven trips, gosh,
00:41 typically about a week at a time.
00:42 We're currently in this situation
00:44 where there's a major Russian buildup.
00:46 The situation was changing and feeling more urgent.
00:50 Go, go, go.
00:51 They had two impacts in town.
00:54 Billy Smith and I had, we met, I think it was at the CGI,
00:59 the Clinton Global Initiative meeting
01:02 in New York one year.
01:04 We started talking about documentaries.
01:06 We had a couple of different ones that we had pursued
01:09 and for various reasons decided not to do.
01:12 He had made contact with a good friend
01:14 of President Zelensky's.
01:16 And this is at a time where the United States,
01:18 whereby most of us were being introduced to Zelensky
01:22 through a bad phone call with the then President Trump.
01:25 The way that he was handling
01:28 what must have been an incredibly difficult period
01:32 with the relationship between the United States and Ukraine
01:35 seemed awfully mature for somebody
01:38 who had not been in politics for long.
01:40 You hear the stories of the history he had as an actor.
01:44 Start watching some of the shows of "Servant of the People."
01:47 He was a talented actor, very charismatic, very charming.
01:50 And we had the opportunity through this friend of Billy's
01:53 to perhaps be in touch with President Zelensky
01:56 and get his participation.
01:58 And so we decided we'd make this whimsical tale
02:01 of this comedic actor who played a president in a comedy,
02:04 then becoming the president of Ukraine.
02:06 And then COVID got in our way
02:09 and it was difficult to travel.
02:11 In some cases it was forbidden.
02:13 He said, "Let's wait and do this after."
02:16 'Cause we met him on Zoom during the COVID lockdowns.
02:20 What I said to him was that I didn't want him to say yes,
02:23 he'd participate until he met me face to face.
02:26 Then he'd have a chance to,
02:28 because I really wanted his trust.
02:31 I was gonna ask everything.
02:33 At that time, one thought they were gonna ask
02:35 the big question, what happened on that phone call?
02:38 Well, of course he did an incredible Axios interview
02:41 where he addressed it head on.
02:42 And so what had been important
02:44 or wherever we thought we would start
02:45 in the pursuit of the story of Ukraine
02:47 and this president changed.
02:50 And now we were hearing the drums of Russia.
02:54 By the time we were able to visit with him the first time,
02:58 it just ended up being visit face to face, but no cameras.
03:03 It would be on the 23rd of February, 2022,
03:07 the day before the invasion.
03:09 And he agreed that he'd go on camera the following day.
03:12 And it was a good meeting.
03:15 And I knew I liked him, whip smart, warm,
03:20 and didn't have the contrivances or the guards
03:25 that I'd seen in political leaders all over the world.
03:28 We went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day,
03:31 our first day of shooting with President Zelensky.
03:35 And we ultimately decided to get some rest
03:39 and we laid down in our rooms.
03:42 And I don't know, I must've been asleep
03:45 about 10 minutes by the time the first rocket hit the city.
03:48 And so everything changed.
03:50 And then he kept the meeting with us the next day
03:52 and we started shooting this film.
03:54 - This is about vengeance.
03:56 Putin's angry that this country wants to divorce itself
03:59 from Russia forever and he wants it back.
04:01 - What I felt was a profound heartbreak.
04:05 It was really clear that day that something evil
04:08 and beyond stupid, a complete collapse of imagination
04:13 had happened in the Kremlin, in Putin,
04:17 and to a large degree in Russian culture,
04:21 creating a kind of sepsis on humanity.
04:24 All of the ways in which this is going to continue
04:29 to impact all of our lives.
04:31 As long as there's a war being fought,
04:33 in part leveraging fossil fuels,
04:36 we're not moving forward on climate change issues, right?
04:40 So this is a thing that, all of the,
04:44 of course the deaths and the destruction,
04:47 meaningless, meaningless stuff.
04:50 But it was also heartbreaking because one knew,
04:55 you sensed it from our first trip in November
04:58 and the attention we had paid that country
05:01 since we started this.
05:03 It was so clear that something magic was going on
05:05 in terms of the unity of that country.
05:07 So there was no version of this
05:09 where Russia could win and it would be one more war
05:13 somebody else won over somebody else and off we go home.
05:17 There was no such thing as a win for the Russians here.
05:20 So I think the kindest thing one could say about Putin
05:23 is he has absolutely no imagination and he's an utter bore.
05:27 - We need Americans to understand the price
05:30 we have to pay to be free.
05:32 - Because of our proximity to active combat,
05:37 that's the priority.
05:38 - Guys, no grass, these fields are mine.
05:41 - There's a lot of ways you could end the sentence.
05:44 None of us thought that Ukraine could this.
05:48 None of us would ever have imagined
05:53 that this comedian turned president would become this.
05:58 This is not the old story.
06:02 In the old story, when the world media reports
06:06 a total encirclement of Kiev, that regime has collapsed
06:09 and a puppet regime is put in.
06:14 That's the story, always the story everywhere in the world.
06:18 What's different about this story is that
06:20 and where Ukraine, and I believe it will,
06:25 and it's moving to me to think about this,
06:29 that it's gonna rewrite the rhythm of history this way.
06:33 I think Ukraine can be the story of sustained unity
06:38 when in peacetime.
06:40 That doesn't mean lack of diversity of political thought,
06:43 but that they are going to remember that they are one.
06:47 I sense that's going to happen.
06:49 I sense it's gonna happen in part
06:51 because of Zelensky's leadership,
06:54 but I sense it from kind of the all walks of life people
06:57 that we've spent time with,
06:58 that there's something new in world history happening
07:01 and it's starting with Ukraine
07:03 and that it'll be a great teacher for the world.
07:08 (dramatic music)
07:10 - If Ukraine fails, it's not just a failure for democracy.
07:13 - Everything that happens here is gonna affect
07:15 every other place in the world today.
07:16 That's the reason that we're all so invested in this.
07:19 - I don't think that our country should underestimate
07:24 the insobriety of privilege.
07:28 And we are privileged that our children
07:31 are not being hit by rockets right now.
07:33 We are privileged that we are not in some kind
07:37 of a civil war right now.
07:40 With this film, as much as it's about Ukraine,
07:43 as much as it's about Zelensky,
07:45 that turns out to be only the most potent vehicle
07:50 to create the discussion about building community
07:55 'cause we're social creatures
07:56 and if we can't wake up in the morning
07:59 to a world that assumes it's in partnership with each other,
08:03 whether it's our neighborhood, our house,
08:06 then I do, as they say in the film,
08:08 it doesn't take rocket science to know
08:13 that what we're doing is designing for mental unhealth.
08:18 Unless we're humble enough to realize
08:22 we're social animals and what does that mean?
08:25 I don't have to wake up in the morning
08:27 and assume my neighbor hates me.
08:29 (gentle music)
08:32 (gentle music)
08:35 (gentle music)
08:37 (gentle music)
08:40 (gentle music)
08:42 (gentle music)
08:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]