Leading music channel VH1 dubbed her the “reigning queen of kick-butt” in 2006 for her numerous appearances in sci-fi and action films.

And now it’s emerged that model, musician, fashion designer two-time Scream Awards winner Milla Jovovich could have kicked butt on the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as host. 

Eurovision 2017 producer Oleg Bodnarchuk revealed that Jovovich was top of the list for potential hosts.

As with Lady Gaga, who was reportedly top pick for the grand final interval, the cost of her rider – a set of requests a performer sets as criteria for performance – fell beyond the €30 million budget allocated for the contest.

Discussions appear to have been advanced, and Bodnarchuk suggests Jovovich had agreed to waving a fee for hosting.

“Milla Jovovich was one of our top picks to host the contest and she really wanted to do it for a nominal fee. Her manager wrote me a letter, because he knew that I was doing this and asked for negotiations. I’m sure she refused to host for the same reason Lady Gaga refused [to headline the Grand Final].”

That would mean that the three male hosts Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko were not Ukrainian national broadcaster UA:PBC’s first choice to host Eurovision 2017.

Milla Jovovich had her breakthrough in 1997 French science-fiction film The Fifth Element and in 2002 appeared in horror film Resident Evil, based on the video games of the same name, which, despite commercial success, was savaged by reviewers.

She was born in Kyiv in 1975, then spent most of her early childhood in Russian capital Moscow. Her mother — the Russian actress Galina Jovovich — hails from the city.

Despite being born in Ukraine, she told Ukranian Vogue in October 2016 that she doesn’t feel Ukrainian, owing to her childhood spent in Russia.

What do you think about this revelation? Would you have liked to see Milla Jovovich host? Let us know in the comments below! 

GET MORE UKRAINE NEWS HERE

44 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Felixxx
Felixxx
6 years ago

what if armenia wins will they approach the kardashians or angela from west world to host

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago

Unlike Gaga, Jovovich at least has something resembling a coherent connection to Ukraine. A very thin connection, but at least not completely out of left field.

Once again, of course, performing “for free” still requires Hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars, because of the American entertainment industry. The level of super-wealthy hyper-entitlement built into the operating expenses of every single event exceeds anything this side of historical Versailles.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

To all people who criticize this year’s hosts: they weren’t great but they weren’t terrible. Don’t expect to see Mans and Petra every year! Don’t stick to these hosts! They were great, but we can’t have them every single year. The hosts did a good job and acted professionally! Host country should approach local talents and artists as hosts or at the intervals or anything like this. Why do we need super stars? They don’t care about Eurovision, in USA they don’t even know it, or few people know it! If I’m honest I’d love to see a woman hosting… Read more »

Ali Smith
Ali Smith
6 years ago

I am such a huge fan of the Percy Jackson books and unlike most people I really liked the films and am waiting for the Percy Jackson 3 to be made. It’s sad that Logan Lerman won’t be able to return because obviously he’s a grown man now. But I’m looking forward to a TV show too. After all this is the golden age of television and hope you’d do a good job with the material at hand. Percy Jackson 3 Movie

ninasublatti
ninasublatti
6 years ago

GOOD. WE DONT NEED ALL THIS AMERICAN SH*T.

tOST
tOST
6 years ago

“Despite being born in Ukraine, she told Ukranian Vogue in October 2016 that she doesn’t feel Ukrainian, owing to her childhood spent in Russia.”
Actually, she said that she doesn’t feel Ukrainian be she was raised in USA.
Read the orginial article carefully again.

tOST
tOST
6 years ago
Reply to  tOST

*because she was raised in the USA.

Branko
Branko
6 years ago

She was also rumoured to host ESC in 2009. What is so great about her? Does she even make any movies nowadays?

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago
Reply to  Branko

The Resident Evil series adamantly refuses to die (appropriate for a zombie apocalypse, I suppose). Other than that, she has periodic supporting roles. She was Milady de Winter in the 2011 version of The Three Musketeers, she played The Queen in the 2014 film Cymbeline, and she reprised her role as Katinka in 2016’s Zoolander 2.

Kai
Kai
6 years ago

Volodymyr Ostapchuk did a great job! I really appreciated

Fatima
Fatima
6 years ago

Thank you Richardinho and Adam, I quite liked the hosts too. I know their English wasn’t brilliant but by and large they did a nice job and I would always rather have a local talent doing that job than a parachuted celebrity. What did make me cringe was the savaging handed out to Oleksandr, Volodymyr and Timur by Scott Mills and Graham Norton on the BBC.

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago
Reply to  Fatima

Graham Norton’s commentating behavior is frequently catty, rude, and bitterly sarcastic. His behavior lives down to a lot of very negative stereotypes.

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

Déjà vu… in 2006, Jennifer Aniston (who has Greek ancestors) was rumoured to have been approached by the Greek broadcaster.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

Bulgaria failed to get Nina Dobrev to host Junior Eurovision, now Ukraine fails to get Mila to host actual Eurovision… I wonder if they asked the other Mila?

If Australia wins can we please get Hugh Jackman to host.

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago

She would’ve been awesome. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous but she’s got a very bright and fun personality. Just check out her Instagram posts and blooper reels from some of her movies.

Azaad
Azaad
6 years ago

While I believe that guest acts should be from the hosting country, for the sake of communication, getting an American from the diaspora would’ve been good- or even French, in the case of Olga Kurylenko. Although the hosts this year weren’t as bad as say, 2012 or 2015 (and those three women definitely had a better command of English and French than most others). Although speaking of 2015 hosts, if any country needed to have Frauenpower, it was Ukraine. Why a country that has the highest ratio of female to male acts, with no male successes, chose to have 3… Read more »

Padeira de Aljubarrota
Padeira de Aljubarrota
6 years ago

About hollywood, there are probabilities Daniela Ruah (actress – NCIS: Los Angeles) to host ESC 2018.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

They’ll try to get Ronaldo to do something.

Padeira de Aljubarrota
Padeira de Aljubarrota
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Ronaldo has a bad english

Denis
Denis
6 years ago

Somehow I think she would have done it better than the chosen hosts. She has the European connection, knows how to speak proper English, speaks at least four languages. Would have been much better..
Then again Verka would have done it better than the guys!

Though I would have picked Mila Kunis or Vera Farmiga. True American/European mix with flawless English!

Grete Paia
Grete Paia
6 years ago

Olga Kurylenko and Mila Kunis would have done it for no cost. Mariya Yaryemchyuk and Myka Nyewton in hot dress also great choices to be host instead of boring ugly males.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago
Reply to  Grete Paia

only one of them were ugly.

Billy Loomis
Billy Loomis
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Which one?

Grete Paia
Grete Paia
6 years ago

Lady Gagovich should have hosted with Milla and Timur in green room

Julie
Julie
6 years ago

She would have done a brilliant job – perfect English and a lot of personality to boot. Plus, she wouldn’t have given off weird nationalist vibes that were wholly inappropriate for the likes of Eurovision, like our 3 hosts did..

CarlosM
CarlosM
6 years ago

ESC hosts need to entertain us and not just be the breathing bodies who tell us the points and who the interval acts are. They should also speak fluent English, maybe 5-10 yrs. of experience with the language. We need to be entertained by them, like Petra and Mans did. Also, hire comedy writers. Maybe hire the MTV Europe Awards writers. Hire comedians who know English and the culture of the host country. Why not have one be an interval act?

Grete Paia
Grete Paia
6 years ago
Reply to  CarlosM

Petra is in no way a great host. She openly fought with many of the points presenters

Denis
Denis
6 years ago
Reply to  Grete Paia

Openly fought? LOL, that’s funny
She didn’t fight anyone, which is clear if you watch the show. It’s her personality to be a bit mean but openly fought?

Richardinho
Richardinho
6 years ago

I think the 3 chaps who did host did an excellent job. They did their jobs professionally and with a bit of humour along the way too.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago
Reply to  Richardinho

They were no Petra and Mans

Vlad
Vlad
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Now you will compare each year’s hosts with Petra and Mans. World is spinning, and new people are to be discovered.

Richardinho
Richardinho
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

I’ve been looking for the comedy skit they did online, but can’t seem to find it. I liked the way they weren’t afraid to make fun of themselves for their attempts to speak English and French, even though they spoke both languages beautifully.

The problem with British audiences is that they just don’t like foreigners.

Adam
Adam
6 years ago

I don’t see why people think the hosts this year were terrible. I mean, they weren’t no Petra och Måns, but you could tell they tried. I’d put them somewhere lower than the 2014 hosts and definitely way above the 2015 and 2012 hosts.

CarlosM
CarlosM
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

They tried and failed. Their English was horrible, their delivery sucked, and they were just robots reading off a teleprompter.

Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago

Hm, this story doesn’t really sound true. If she was so eager to do it, even waiving her fee, why would she put such high-cost demands on her request list? What could she possibly need? Also, why would they want to have such a Russian-leaning host, given the circumstances? She may have some degree of fame, but I would say the average person on the street knows her about as well as they know Alex, Vovo & Timur. Not at all, that is to say. For what it’s worth, I thought the three hosts did a good job – particularly… Read more »

CarlosM
CarlosM
6 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Outside of Ukraine, who knew the hosts before ESC? No one!

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  CarlosM

Timur.

Fishy
Fishy
6 years ago

I am pretty sure any other person would be better than the chosem host. Heck even I would do a better job if I could. They were way too stiff.

Paul D.
Paul D.
6 years ago
Reply to  Fishy

Not as stiff as the 2012 and 2015 hosts though

Fishy
Fishy
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul D.

It took me a while to even think who those hosts were. Granted they were all stiff I agree.
They should just have open auditions for hosts and have a panel of people decide so we can avoid the boring hosts. We need hosts that are naturally funny.

Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul D.

2012 were the worst hosts ever. All the money that Azerbaijan pumped into their production, yet they failed at one of the most basic elements.

PP
PP
6 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Worst host for me is host from 2009 , especially host from 2 semi final.
I don t like also Petra Mede as host 2013,2016 , she try so hard to be funny.
Best host for me host 2011, Ankka is best host for me from 1985 to 2017.

Education Sentimentale
Education Sentimentale
6 years ago
Reply to  Fishy

It wouldn’t have needed an “expensive” Hollywood star. Just a decent presenter who speaks acceptable english and doesn’t come across like a wooden, over-motivated shopping channel salesmasn would have been great!

Education Sentimentale
Education Sentimentale
6 years ago

(*salesman)