From Leonardo DiCaprio to Pamela Anderson, tracing Vladimir Putin's connection to the Hollywood

Days after Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, major Hollywood studios like Warner Bros, The Walt Disney Co, and Sony Pictures declared to ‘pause’ the release of their films in Russia.

Following their suit, Sony, Paramount and Universal also pledged to stop putting films out in the country, with tentpoles no longer planning releases including Morbius [Sony>, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [Paramount>, and Michael Bay’s Ambulance [Universal>.

However, the cultural close-down is welcome news from an otherwise hobnobbing session of Hollywood with Putin.

While celebs Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn , and Mark Ruffalo issue their support for besieged Ukraine, there have been instances when Leonardo DiCaprio to Steven Seagal, Tinseltown’s biggest names were once happy to hang out with the invading president.

Here are some of the celebs and their famous encounters with the Russian leader:

Paul McCartney

In 2003, Putin was partially responsible for getting Paul McCartney to the country in order to perform in the Red Square – marking the milestone as the first Beatle to do so. Putin was also snapped with the singer before the concert in Moscow.

“So we met Putin in front of all the cameras, then he sent all the press out and eventually, he even sent his translator out, because he speaks pretty good English,” McCartney told The Guardian in 2003. “We had a quite intimate conversation about his life, which was quite refreshing.” The singer performed an acoustic version of ‘Let it Be’ at the Kremlin, much to the delight of Putin.

Leonardo DiCaprio

In 2010, Putin had praised Leonardo DiCaprio as “a real man” for his persistence in getting to a St Petersburg summit on saving tigers.

His first plane was forced to make an emergency landing after losing an engine, while a second had to stop after encountering strong headwinds. “I would like to thank you for coming despite all the obstacles,” Putin told DiCaprio at the conference. Impressed at DiCaprio, also calling him a “real man” because of his willingness to fly out in bad weather. DiCaprio had pledged $1m [£635,000> to the effort.

Steven Seagal

Steven Seagal was appointed as a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the US by the Russian Foreign Ministry in 2018. The responsibility included him to “facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges.”

When Seagal received his Russian citizenship, Ukraine barred him from entering the country, and deemed the actor a threat to national security.

The 69=year-old actor spoke on the Ukrainian conflict Monday, saying he looks at both sides “as one family.” “Most of us have friends and family in Russia and Ukraine,” the action star told Fox News Digital on Monday. “I look at both as one family and really believe it is an outside entity spending huge sums of money on propaganda to provoke the two countries to be at odds with each other.”

Jack Nicholson

Irish news site Independent.ie chronicled a chance meeting between the two in 2001 at the Moscow International Film Festival. Putin, at a festival party function, apparently approached Nicholson, saying he was a fan of his work. “I most like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Putin reportedly added .

Pamela Anderson

In a resurfaced interview clip , Anderson revealed that she had developed a “friendship” with Putin as an animal rights activist.

The two first made contact with each other in Moscow when the 54-year-old begged the president to ban seal clubbing in Russia, and to stop importing them into the country. Sure enough, Putin banned the practice in 2009, shortly after their meeting.

In 2015, Anderson wrote Putin a letter urging him to end the whale meat trade, requesting he block a shipping vessel carrying 1,700 tons of endangered fin whale meat from passing through Russia to Japan.

“So he did. He made it actually illegal to import seal products even into the country,” Anderson says in the clip.

The video has since been going viral on TikTok, with many joking that Anderson might be the “secret weapon” we need amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

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