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Casablanca — A new piece by U.S. entertainment news site ‘Variety’ highlights the reasons Morocco consistently attracts foreign filmmakers.
“With tensions spreading across the Arab world ,in particular in the Middle East and Southwestern Asia throughout 2016,” says international correspondent Elsa Keslassy, “Morocco proved, more than ever, the go-to destination for foreign filmmakers.”
Film and TV producers keep choosing Morocco time and time again. In 2016, tv shows “Prison Break,” “Homeland,” and “Viking” and films “High Wire Act,” “Backstabbing For Beginners” and “The Yellow Birds” were all shot in Morocco. And that’s just to name a few.
Last month, CNN published its own piece praising Morocco on becoming Africa’s filmmaking hub and lauding Ouarzazate as a “home away from home for Hollywood directors looking to recreate a host of landscapes without any of the risks, costs and nightmarish logistics of filming in other, perhaps more suitable countries.”
“All the turmoil in the world ironically brought us many projects,” Karim Debbagh, one of Morocco’s top executive producers, told Variety.
The effect these shoots have on the Moroccan economy is highly significant. Variety, for example, cites Homeland’s 8 episode arc, which cost approximately $1.8 million and hired 120 Moroccan crew members.
Gary Goodman, executive VP of productions at Lionsgate, tells Variety that “Morocco has a long and successful history of filming, and it seems to be the most moderate and liberate place in the Arab world, we don’t feel that we’re not a 100% safe or welcome here; that’s essential because we have to convince creative people as well as our on-camera people and at this point, we feel very comfortable.”
And comfort and hospitality are indeed essential. Last month, Hollywood superstar Vin Diesel talked about his experience in Morocco during an interview with Lebanese journalist Raya Abirached on MBC, saying: “It was a wonderful experience […] and what was surreal is I went around by myself to meet people and I went to a hut. Although they [Moroccans] had nothing there — a refrigerator was tied up [with] a goatskin — they were so gracious and they were so set on getting to giving me what they have. It was such a beautiful experience.”
Last May, Tom Hanks famously said his “visit to Morocco has changed my stereotypical views of Muslim countries,” after he travelled to the country to film “A Hologram for the King.”
