- This was never about Ukraine for me.

This was always about American values and democracy and what it is, and where it comes from, and what it means.

This guy is an actor and he's a good one.

You know, he knows that this has to be "Henry V" now, and it has to be real.

And that's where this sense of character and courage and spirit that I think was really inspiring to me.

came from.

- Coming up on "Laura Flanders & Friends", the place where the people who say it can't be done, take a back seat to the people who are doing it.

Welcome.

(playful bright upbeat music) The award-winning actor, director and writer, Liev Schreiber, heralded by "The New York Times" as the finest American theater actor of his generation is known for his stirring Broadway performances in plays like "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Talk Radio," and "Doubt," and television shows like "Ray Donovan", leading seven seasons of the acclaimed Showtime drama earning five Golden Globe and three Emmy nominations.

Schreiber also starred in and executive produced "Ray Donovan: The Movie," and recently played opposite Nicole Kidman in "The Perfect Couple."

You may have seen him in films too, such as "Spotlight," "The Manchurian Candidate," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and many others.

What you may not know is that he is also a prominent and committed activist.

Most notably, Schreiber has been active on behalf of the nation of Ukraine, which is currently locked in a multi-year existential battle against the invading forces of Russia and its dictator Vladimir Putin.

Recently, Schreiber had the opportunity to interview the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as part of a new documentary titled "Meeting Zelenskyy."

The film is a fascinating portrait of Ukraine's embattled leader and showcases rare footage of Zelenskyy's early days as an actor, director, and writer, as well as a major entrepreneur who founded and led one of Eastern Europe's largest media companies making 40 feature films and creating highly popular TV shows, including one that's been called Ukraine's "Saturday Night Live."

The film also charts Zelenskyy's surprising rise to power following another of his hit shows called "Servant of the People" in which he portrayed a disgruntled high school teacher whose sharp criticisms of his country's leaders result in his upset election as president.

Life imitated art.

In a few moments, we'll talk with Liev Schreiber about his encounter with Zelenskyy, how and why he got involved in the film, what the Ukrainian leader is like behind the scenes, and what hopes and fears Schreiber has for Ukraine as it enters perhaps the most perilous part of its battle to maintain its sovereignty in the face of overwhelming pressure.

But first, here is a clip from the film "Meeting Zelenskyy."

- [Liev] On the morning of February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

- [Reporter 1] Russian troops are now 20 miles outside of the capital.

- [Reporter 2] It's going to be extremely difficult for the Ukrainian military to defend from this.

- [Liev] The world's second largest military superpower had just declared war on a country it once swore to protect.

As missiles indiscriminately destroyed homes and infrastructure, millions of women and children fled the country while men of all ages and vocations lined up to defend their homeland against impossible odds.

For those of us watching from the comfort of our couches, things weren't looking good for Ukraine.

Pundits and prognosticators were predicting that Kyiv would fall within the week.

- As we've been warning for months, Kyiv falling is a real possibility.

- [Liev] But on day two of the invasion on the street just outside the president's office, something remarkable happened.

(Zelenskyy speaking in Ukrainian) - [Liev] His message was simple.

I am here, we are here.

But the sentiment it evoked struck a nerve not just in Ukraine, but with millions of people around the world.

Who in the face of increasingly authoritarian regimes, were now seeing that it was possible to face down bullies, that this was the function of a democracy.

- Liev Schreiber, what a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you so much for your work over the years and on this film.

- Thank you, Laura.

Really appreciate it.

- It truly was, for me anyway, revelatory.

For you, I understand it was somewhat personal.

How so?

- I made a film in 2005 called "Everything Is Illuminated," which is an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's book, "Everything is Illuminated."

It was actually an adaptation of a short story that he'd run in the New Yorker.

And during that time, part of the reason that I wanted to make that film was because I have great grandparents and one grandparent that are from the region.

And so I did a little tour of Ukraine trying to find my grandfather's village and wrote a film about an American who goes to Ukraine to find his heritage.

And of course then read Jonathan's book and thought that was much better and asked him if he'd let me adapt it.

And I adapted that and made the film.

So when the war broke out in 2022, a lot of people were calling me assuming that I had some connection or would know how they could help.

And I was disappointed that I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how we could help.

And so I called some friends and we decided after reading Humanitarian Outcomes' report that year, that the best use of money, if donations was the way to help, was to localize aid.

My maternal grandparents were Ukrainian.

So when a group of friends asked me to help them start an organization that would fast track humanitarian aid and support to Ukraine, it was easy to say yes.

Hi, how are you?

I was invited to sit down with the president, discuss how else we might be able to help.

After our first meeting, the actor in me couldn't help but wonder if the actor in him hadn't played some small role in his extraordinary response to Putin's aggression.

Who was this former comedian from a small steel town in southern Ukraine who seemed so ready and willing to face down impossible odds?

What were the elements that shaped him and how had he and his fellow Ukrainians risen to meet this incredible moment?

And the opportunity arose to speak with him at length.

I jumped at it.

- You've mentioned this idea of him as an actor, but what else were you curious about as you prepared to meet with him for this extended conversation on camera?

- I don't want to diminish this president to just being an actor, but you know, if given the chance, I want to promote actors here a little bit, but the... - I mean, we had very set kind of stereotypes of who he was in the U.S. or maybe we didn't even have enough information to have a very good stereotype.

But certainly it does seem as if, you know, we in the U.S. and maybe Putin and certainly people in the White House might have had Zelenskyy wrong thinking he was, quote, unquote, "Just an actor," "Just a comedian," "Elected kind of by chance."

- I guess that's, you know, a good actor is so much more than a performer.

A good actor is someone who is able to see a narrative.

And that if you're doing your part properly, you're filling in a small piece of a larger element.

The performance is really not about you at all.

It's an idea for the audience that ultimately returns something to themselves.

And that's what I think a great actor does.

And after I, you know, spend some time researching President Zelenskyy's work and what he accomplished, not just as an actor, but as a social satirist, a comedian, a writer, a producer, and then ultimately, the head of a very large media company that was creating content for Ukrainians, specifically for Ukraine, his skills were extraordinary.

- So you can see why you, as you put it, jumped at the chance to make a film that involved you sitting with him closely and talking over time.

Here's another clip from "Meeting Zelenskyy."

- From what I read about your city, it was kind of a tough place, that there was a component of it that was dangerous.

There were gangs there, and that it was important that you had to develop a kind of toughness there to survive.

Was that true?

(Zelenskyy speaking in Ukrainian) - There is a stark moment where we see in this footage from your film "Meeting Zelenskyy" how brave he was.

Even as he's saying, "We didn't know how brave we were because nobody had done this before."

He was brave.

Is there a particular instance of that that stands out to you?

Because you bring us some startling ones in the film.

- I think my favorite footage in the film is the interview with the First Lady, and how candid she was about how upset she was with him.

First of all, for running for president.

And secondly, for what they would have to endure once Russia invaded.

But her support and her strength and their courage as a couple, and their openness in this documentary, particularly her vulnerability to show her humanity in those really, really terrifying moments.

I mean, at the point that I'd interviewed her, I think there had been 12 assassination attempts on the president, who jokes about them, but they were all very serious assassination attempts.

It's just extraordinary to see how human beings stand up to tyranny.

And for me, as someone who had spent the past eight years of my life on a television show with two, at that time, two now three young children, I wanted them...

This was never about Ukraine for me.

This was always about American values and democracy and what it is, and where it comes from, and what it means.

And I don't think that those values and those principles are on display anywhere more clearly than in Ukraine.

- So elaborate on that a little.

You indicate at the beginning that there was something about that pushback.

It was not anticipated, that was counter to all of the punditry in the early days of February 2022 that gave us a glimpse, us in this country and everywhere around the world, a glimpse of the possibility of standing up to authoritarianism, to a bully, to facing down a bully.

And I couldn't help but think that that was a message to us in the U.S. - Absolutely.

I think since the fall of the Soviet Union and perestroika, after all of that, after the Budapest memorandum, you know, the Ukrainians have done their best to develop their economy, to develop their culture.

And one of the things that I think is extraordinary about the president and that I think, I hope is clear from the film, is that he was on a kind of laser-focused search for Ukrainian identity from the very beginning with his work.

And I think that satirical sense, that satire and that politically-driven comedy that he was interested in doing, which was really poking at authoritarianism and tyranny was not only dangerous, but because it was so brilliant and funny, very successful.

And it gave Ukrainians a sense of confidence in themselves, in their own culture, in their own language, in their own literature, in their own economy, and in their own politics.

And they started to thrive.

And I think that represented obviously a major threat to Putin.

That trajectory of that man from an artist to a politician to an extraordinary inspirational leader, for me, he was always on the same trajectory.

I was interested in this period of your life because it seemed like you were having success at a very rapid rate in your time in Moscow.

And I'm just wondering and curious why you chose to return (Zelenskyy speaking in Ukrainian) - The bigger point, sorry, to get back to your question is how this represents democracy to me.

- Yeah.

- And it's the principles that I think built this country, that's the principles this country was founded on, to separate from tyranny, to develop our own political, economic, social structure, language, religion, everything.

And to fight for our independence and to fight for it together as a democracy, as a unified community.

It's black and white there.

It's, you know, because our democracy has suffered this kind of polarizing journey of the past 30 years where it's become a kind of competition and we've forgotten what our values are and we've forgotten what our two parties are supposed to stand for, and the fact that there could be more if we needed them or if we wanted them, is something that I think when people look at the film, and I think that people look at what's happening in Ukraine, hopefully it reminds them of our own democracy and why we need to respect it and do maintenance on it and be a part of it.

- That being said, how did you react to that performance in the White House when Donald Trump basically grilled President Zelenskyy, raked him over the coals for all to see in public?

- You know, it was a display for me, like so many things that our administration does right now, they are for the base and they are to consolidate power, and they're a show.

I mean, I think that's so much of Trump's background is reality television, and I think he's brought that to the White House.

By having said that, I was very impressed with how President Zelenskyy handled himself.

He wasn't going to back down from misinformation or disinformation, and the first thing that set him off were the false numbers.

And he had to say, "I'm sorry, but those numbers are just not correct."

And you can't be telling, he understands the influence and the power of a democracy.

You can't be telling the people things that aren't true.

- I would love to reflect on this moment where it seems as if Zelenskyy and his administration and his people have pulled off an extraordinary military feat, one that has involved and required all sorts of ingenuity and creative thinking.

I'm talking about Operation 'Spider's Web,' which as we're speaking, is really just resonating globally as a new model of war.

Pilotless smart drones managed to make attacks deep inside Russia without the kind of massive technology we think of, but instead with nimble creative, smart weapons.

I don't know what the future holds, but this does seem to be an extraordinary moment.

- I think one only needs to look at how long they've been able to defend their territory and the effective operations that they've had.

You know, 'Spider's Web' is an extraordinary example.

And the resilience and the tenacity and the strength and, you know, it's one of those things that you can't help but sort of see in these kind of archetypal ways that... - Very David and Goliath.

- Yeah, but it's the strength of truth.

And that from the beginning I've felt that that I've always felt optimistic about this because they are on the side of truth.

And that's the kind of thing that you can cover briefly, but it always comes out.

It always surfaces.

And it's also the kind of thing that builds morale, it builds courage, it builds principle.

And I think they have that on their side where the Russian military is struggling.

And to be honest, from my perspective and my visits and my time there, you know, they were on the ropes.

- It should be remembered that there are continuing attacks by the Russians on infrastructure, on domestic facilities of healthcare and culture and education.

You name it.

The situation isn't rosy.

You talked about the humanitarian work you were doing at the beginning.

Where does that stand now?

Even as we talk about the overused word, but resilience of the Ukrainian people.

- The need for humanitarian aid is really essential, especially in vulnerable communities.

Obviously most of the men are serving in the military, so we've got a lot of women and children and elderly people who really need shoring up, people who refuse to leave their goat or their farm or their cat, or whatever it is that they don't wanna leave.

And their attitudes are like, you know, I'm already 80, or I don't care if they drop a missile on my head at this point, I'm not going anywhere.

And so there's this wonderful organization that we work with called Starenki, who goes out to them and visits them periodically.

They bring them food.

They bring them warming kits.

They have tea parties for them.

They get them together.

They give them the sense of community.

They bring them medications.

Kidsave is another one.

It's really a horrible time to be trying to raise a child.

Kidsave is also runs several orphanages in Ukraine, but they also have these activities for parents and children.

They educate children on mines and IEDs to keep them safe.

They give them safety backpacks.

They have activities and ways to get them together, because obviously many of the schools and a lot of the infrastructure's been destroyed.

So most kids are learning online, but Kidsafe makes an effort to have these kids come together and give them some sense of community.

It's really important, at least to me and hopefully to my kids, that we understand the brutality of a situation like this one and that we care and that we want to do something.

And that in so many ways, to me, that's what it is to be American.

- I couldn't possibly say, ask you, you know, how this experience has made your professional life deeper or richer or more empathic.

I can't think of a more empathic actor, but has it changed you in any way?

- Iolanta Pryshlyak is a woman who runs an orchestra in Lviv.

And I asked Iolanta, I said, you know, if you could say anything to Americans who are thinking about supporting Ukraine, what would you say?

She looks into the corner of the room and then I can see tears welling in her eyes and she says, well, in Ukrainian, she says, "If the war hasn't moved them, I really don't know what to say to them.

All I know is to tell them to hold the people that they love close to them."

And it just knocked me over how perfectly stated that was.

That this was a person who was in an existential situation.

And in an existential situation, all that really matters is love.

- Liev Schreiber, thank you so much.

The film is "Meeting Zelenskyy".

We'll close with President Zelenskyy's own thoughts on freedom.

Here's another clip from "Meeting Zelenskyy."

(Zelenskyy speaking in Ukrainian) - There's something beautiful in what you just said.

I wish you all the luck and a real honor to speak to you.

Thank you, Mr. President.

(Zelenskyy speaking in Ukrainian) - [Liev] Thank you.

- The following commentary is going to mention suicide.

There is help.

The national hotline number is 988, and it's free.

Not so long ago, Donald Trump compared the war in Ukraine to a playground battle between kids.

To which President Zelenskyy replied, "We are not kids in a playground, but President Putin is a murderer killing kids."

President Putin, of course, is not killing anyone himself.

He's sending others to do it.

The conscripted children of terrified parents and battlefield reports are replete with stories of soldier suicide at the front.

In the US, our commander in chief is sending troops to US cities, National Guard and Marines, sending them out to enforce his mass immigration expulsion program.

A program that more and more people are rejecting as illegal, immoral, un-American and should be stopped.

He's also approving a military parade costing millions, even as he is cutting funds for veterans health.

And the suicide statistics in this country continue to show that veterans commit suicide at elevated rates.

Some 17 per day in the US.

What I take from Zelenskyy is that it's important to send a message to people to do the right thing, to stand up, not for their commander, but for their constitution.

Their country.

Their people.

And to resist doing things that they think might not be right.

His message, "We have your back," seems like an apt message to US military today.

So there you have it.

If you want my full, unedited conversation with Liev Schreiber, you can get it through subscribing to our free podcast.

All the information is at the website.

In the meantime, stay kind to stay curious, stay connected.

For "Laura Flanders & Friends," I'm Laura.

Thanks for joining us.

For more on this episode and other forward-thinking content, subscribe to our free newsletter for updates, my commentaries, and our full uncut conversations.

We also have a podcast.

It's all at lauraflanders.org (upbeat bright music)