For filmmakers looking to tell Middle Eastern stories, the desert kingdom has increasingly become the first choice for location shooting, as Alex Ritman explains
In March last year, filmmakers sparked protests in Chandigarh in northern Indian after parts of the city were made to look like Pakistan for a major Hollywood shoot. Reports that Urdu signs were put up in a marketplace and autorickshaws had been given Lahore number plates went down predictably badly with some of the city's more conservative Hindus, who were seen arguing with the cast and crew until police intervened.
It's not the first time Bigelow has used Jordan as a double for another, more volatile country. Much of Iraq-set The Hurt Locker - another potentially controversial story - was shot in the country, having been chosen instead of Morocco due to its similar terrain and proximity.
Scenes were shot in Amman, Madaba, Al Zarqa - the hometown of the assassinated Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi - and in the desert close to the Iraqi border. Bigelow even gave the kingdom a shout-out in her Academy Award acceptance speech, thanking "the people of Jordan, who were so hospitable to us when we were shooting".
While filming, she praised the choice of location, saying you could "look 360 degrees in any given day of the shoot and it would be perfect".
The Hurt Locker actually became the second Oscar-winning film to be shot in Jordan after the 1963 classic Lawrence of Arabia. And it's the not the only big-budget production to set up there, with the country - which has been much less affected by recent political uprisings and revolutions - becoming an increasingly popular choice for filmmakers shooting Middle East scenes, challenging the likes of Morocco and Tunisia, which had been famously popular destinations in the past. Parts of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were filmed in Petra, Wadi Rum and Salt in 2008, and Werner Herzog has said that he hopes to shoot his Gertrude Bell biopic, Queen of the Desert, there.
"Filming in Jordan is easy," says Nada Doumani, the communications and culture manager at the country's Royal Film Commission. In addition to stability, security, diversity of locations, government support, infrastructure and availability of skilled crew, there's a lack of bureaucracy: "There's no need to get prior approval for the script before shooting a film here."
Founded by the Jordanian government in 2003, the Royal Film Commission has been helping develop and promote Jordan's emerging film industry, and within it the Production Services department has looked to promote the country as a filming location and to facilitate productions through providing help in scouting for locations, finding crew and cast and obtaining permits. There are also incentives, with the Film Train programme encouraging foreign filmmakers to employ local talent. "It helps producers save money, since the commission covers part of the crew's fees," says Doumani.
More than 150 Jordanian actors and crew worked on The Hurt Locker, including some chosen from the country's resident Iraqi refugee population. Suhail Aldabbach, a Jordanian with a theatrical background, ended up playing the terrified suicide bomber whose explosive vest was defused at the end of the film.
Although Doumani says that there hasn't yet been any "noticeable change" since the Arab Spring erupted, it's clear that with an increasing amount of Hollywood storytelling focused on the Middle East's modern history, Jordan offers a stable and versatile landscape.
And although Bigelow failed to earn an Oscar nod for directing Zero Dark Thirty, it's still possible with five other nominations, the country's third Academy Award could be on the way very soon.
aritman@thenational.ae
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
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Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
The bio
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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