little tidbit on his new film
'O Jerusalem' in the making
By Jill Cartwright
French director Elie Chouraqui ("Harrison's Flowers," "Man on Fire") is currently working on a movie version of "O Jerusalem," the best-selling epic by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre about the founding of the State of Israel.
Filming for the movie, which is to premiere under the title "Beyond Friendship" in Jerusalem in early 2006, is underway on the Greek island of Rhodes. (While the movie goes ahead, the author Larry Collins died this week.)
With a budget of 22 million euros, the film boasts some big names among its cast members, including Britain's Ian Holm ("Lord of the Rings"), who will be playing David Ben-Gurion, and Tom Conti ("Shirley Valentine"), and France's Said Taghmaoui ("Three Kings," "Hideous Kinky").
Advertisement
The European production - the movie is a joint venture between Films 18 Ltd and VIP Medienfonds - also auditioned in Israel and some 20 actors from here were hired to play smaller roles in the movie.
The story follows the fate of two young friends, one Jew and one Arab, and shows how their relationship is affected by the events leading up to Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Taghmaoui, who is playing the role of the young Arab, told a French press agency that the movie is "a big and good project, at a time when hope seems to have returned to the region." JJ Fields is cast as the young Jew.
In an interview with French Jewish weekly Actualites Juives, Chouraqui (who is Jewish) said he aimed via the movie to give the historical context to the current conflict in the Middle East.
"In order to understand the conflict," he said, "one must go back to its origins."
---------
I talked to Ian Holm....greatest moment of my life!
-----------
www.livejournal.com/aldaboss
'O Jerusalem' in the making
By Jill Cartwright
French director Elie Chouraqui ("Harrison's Flowers," "Man on Fire") is currently working on a movie version of "O Jerusalem," the best-selling epic by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre about the founding of the State of Israel.
Filming for the movie, which is to premiere under the title "Beyond Friendship" in Jerusalem in early 2006, is underway on the Greek island of Rhodes. (While the movie goes ahead, the author Larry Collins died this week.)
With a budget of 22 million euros, the film boasts some big names among its cast members, including Britain's Ian Holm ("Lord of the Rings"), who will be playing David Ben-Gurion, and Tom Conti ("Shirley Valentine"), and France's Said Taghmaoui ("Three Kings," "Hideous Kinky").
Advertisement
The European production - the movie is a joint venture between Films 18 Ltd and VIP Medienfonds - also auditioned in Israel and some 20 actors from here were hired to play smaller roles in the movie.
The story follows the fate of two young friends, one Jew and one Arab, and shows how their relationship is affected by the events leading up to Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Taghmaoui, who is playing the role of the young Arab, told a French press agency that the movie is "a big and good project, at a time when hope seems to have returned to the region." JJ Fields is cast as the young Jew.
In an interview with French Jewish weekly Actualites Juives, Chouraqui (who is Jewish) said he aimed via the movie to give the historical context to the current conflict in the Middle East.
"In order to understand the conflict," he said, "one must go back to its origins."
---------
I talked to Ian Holm....greatest moment of my life!
-----------
www.livejournal.com/aldaboss
