Page 12 - Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Ukrainian President and Unlikely Hero

military general Napoléon Bonaparte, takes place in 1812. Na-
poléon’s forces have invaded Russia and are about to attack the
major Russian city of St. Petersburg. A group of Russian patriots
decide to try to distract the French leader through a desperate
and daring romantic escapade. In the scheme, a Russian army
of cer named Rzhevskiy dresses up as a woman and attempts
to woo the enormously arrogant Napoléon, with predictably silly
but funny results.
The movie was not nancially successful. It cost $8.5 million to
make but took in only $7.8 million at the box of ce in its rst run.
Still, the project helped cement Zelenskyy’s reputation as a comic
actor of high standing. Two more feature lms soon followed, the
romantic comedies 8 First Dates (2013) and 8 New Dates (2015).

An Unlikely Series of Events
The energetic Zelenskyy had no sooner wrapped up lming of
8 New Dates than he began to work on the project that would
change his life and the history of his country in ways more pro-
found than anyone then alive could imagine. Namely, the 1+1 stu-
dio started production on the innovative television series Servant
of the People. Conceived and produced by Zelenskyy himself,
the plot revolves around Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, a high-
school history teacher in his thirties.
Still living with his parents, Goloborodko, played by Zelenskyy,
is mild-mannered and views politics in a largely idealistic manner.
Then one day he is suddenly drawn into an unlikely series of events
that popular NPR lm critic Eric Deggans here summarizes:

Packing up his things after a class, the history teacher
spouts off to a friend, burning with frustration over the gov-
ernment’s corruption, the public’s apathy, and how a se-
cretive group of oligarchs—always depicted in dark rooms
scheming over luxurious food and drink, run everything
from the shadows. One of his students secretly lms the
expletive-laden tirade and posts it online. When it catches

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