One Dollar for a Role: How Sean Penn Supported a Ukrainian Film about Animal Rescue in War
19 November 23:57
VIDEO
American actor and winner of two Oscars Sean Penn starred in the Ukrainian film almanac War Through the Eyes of Animals, receiving a symbolic fee of one dollar for his work. The film’s producer, Oleg Kokhan, said this, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to him, Penn could not officially participate in the project for free due to the rules of the US Screen Actors Guild, which require that any work of an actor be paid for. So Penn himself offered a symbolic amount: his fee for participating in the Ukrainian film was one dollar. For the filmmakers, this was actually a gesture of support, not commercial cooperation.
“War Through the Eyes of Animals: what you need to know about the film
“War Through the Eyes of Animals is a movie almanac consisting of seven short stories. Different directors worked on each of them, and the plot centers on real stories of animal rescue during a full-scale war. The authors of the project show how hostilities change the lives of not only people, but also those who always remain “voiceless witnesses” to war: domestic and wild animals, zoo pets, shelter dogs and cats, zoo pets, and shelter animals.
Sota Cinema Group started working on the film novels back in December 2022. The short story The Eagle was directed by Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, known for the film The Tribe.
In May 2023, it became known that Sean Penn would play a sound producer in The Eagle who accidentally witnesses the outbreak of war. The story shows how a man far from the frontline and politics suddenly finds himself involved in events where not only human lives are at stake, but also the fates of animals that depend on humans.
The soundtrack of the Ukrainian film almanac is the song Imagine Dragons from the cult album Origins. It is worth noting that the popular American rock band Imagine Dragons has been expressing support for the Ukrainian people since the first days of the war. At their concerts, the musicians never tire of reminding the world about the events in Ukraine.
The poster for the movie almanac was created by Daniel Skrypnyk, a Ukrainian artist known for his works for Imagine Dragons, The Weeknd and Britney Spears.
It was very important for me to convey the atmosphere not only of the movie, but also of the realities in which Ukrainians live. This is a very important topic, because in times of war, animals are the ones who are defenseless and very dependent on people. I wanted to create a poster that would stand out and have deep detail, encouraging people to watch the film and help the animals survive,” explained Skrypnyk.
The world premiere of War Through the Eyes of Animals took place in April 2025. The film almanac was included in the program of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. In the capital of Ukraine, the film was presented at the Oscar Cinema on World Animal Day.
The creators of the film almanac emphasize that their goal is not only to tell emotional stories, but also to draw attention to volunteers, animal rights activists and ordinary people who risk their lives to take animals out of shelling, destroyed shelters and “gray zones.”
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