Liev Schreiber Boards Ukrainian Documentary

Liev Schreiber has boarded the Ukrainian documentary Against All Odds: The Failure of Russia’s Blitzkrieg as narrator.

Produced by the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) and Gingers Media with the support of Andriy Zagorodnyuk’s Center for Defence Strategies, the documentary tells the story of how the Ukrainian people managed to withstand the advance of the Russian army, which was touted as one of the strongest in the world.

The team behind the film traveled along the route of Russia’s advance and talked to witnesses of the events, the Ukrainian defenders of Hostomel, Irpin and Moschun. They also discussed the events with the current Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, and the former Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, as well as international military experts such as Ben Hodges, the former Commanding General of the United States Army in Europe, and William Taylor Jr., a former United States ambassador to Ukraine.

Schreiber’s narration was recorded at Mirrortone Studios in New York. The film is slated to premiere in 2023.

“Any film becomes alive once it acquires a voice,” said Artem Lytvynenko, director of the film. “Liev Schreiber was extremely engaged in the process. He cares about what’s going on in Ukraine. He has recently visited Kyiv and saw the destruction with his own eyes; therefore, he understands what he is narrating about quite well. Liev tried to remain unbiased in his narration and refrain from imposing his own emotions onto the viewer. He was also involved in the text adaptation to make it more dynamic and relatable to an English-speaking audience.”

Igor Storchak, executive producer of Against All Odds, said, “Do you know what his terms for joining our film were? It wasn’t about the money. He asked to be able to screen Against All Odds for fundraising purposes to help my country and her people. It touched us all deeply, the director and the producers, because it means that our values are shared with millions of people all over the world. It gives us hope.”

“What I responded to was the simple, clear chronology of an invasion,” Schreiber said. “It is hard to believe that in our lifetimes we would ever witness a ground war like this again, so to see its evolution in vivid detail is an invaluable reminder of the fragility of our democracy and the ferocity with which the Ukrainians defended their own.”

Jay Rothman of Mirrortone Studios, where the narration was recorded, added, “We wanted to help Ukrainians tell their story about this war of aggression being waged by Russia. If we can help, in some small way, give a voice to the people in Ukraine fighting for their right to exist, we’re going to do our part. It was an honor that the filmmakers asked us to contribute.”