News from Kuwait

2nd unit production is wrapped!

We filmed for five days on the Canon 7d, capturing b-roll footage of Kuwait. This will mainly be used to replace greenscreens for the driving shots, but we also captured some establishing shots and transitions.

Two days were spent on the island of Failaka, which was like entering a time machine. The entire neighbourhood is a ghost town, left as it was during the occupation, twenty years ago. There were cars in the driveways, and houses pock marked with machine gun fire. One wall had graffiti declaring a "Free Kuwait". Another was marked by soldiers, taunting that "this will be the mother of all battles".

It was a strange journey, made even more haunting by what we discovered as we were leaving. We saw trucks towing the abandoned cars out to the ferry. The very next day, it turned out, they were going to demolish the old houses. We managed to film there just in time.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip so joyful and productive. Sean Conaty, who shot hours of beautiful footage. Ali Younis, who gave generously of his time and equipment, acting both as 1st AC and production manager during the Failaka trip. Abdullah Al-Matrouk, who managed our last day of production, and doubled as an actor. Esam Al-Kazemi, Mohammad Al-Qattan, Abdulaziz Al-Mobailish, Haider Al-Mosawi, my dad Faisal Al-Matrouk, and everyone else who gave their passion and support to this project.