By Rajeev Nair
Matrix star Laurence Fishburne will direct the film adaptation of the best-selling and seminal work of fiction by Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
Academy Award-winning producer of the Lord of the Rings, Barrie M. Osburne said on Friday that Dubai is among a list of probable locations from the region for the film, which will go into production mid-2006 and be released in November 2007.
Fishburne, who walked the opening gala of the second edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), has already done several versions of the script with the support of Coelho, said Osburne.
“Coelho loved Laurence’s script; he is very supportive of the project and has given his inputs,” he added.
Zeroing in on Dubai as one of the locations of the epic film will depend on the “support and welcome” the film receives, said Osburne.
“It is a combination of factors — a question of who wants to support the film, the work and labour issues, government support, customs and immigration, and some finance.”
He said looking into the facilities offered by Dubai Studio City “could be a possibility if they can accelerate that.”
Osburne is looking for a ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ kind of feel to the film with some “great desert” locations.
The novel’s story-line traverses from Andalusia through the Saharan desert to Egypt.
The cast of the film is yet to be finalised, though Osburne revealed that there is someone in mind for Santiago, “a young actor, perhaps an upcoming one that people know.”
He said The Alchemist will have the two strong essentials for any good film: “The right cast and the right script.”
Though Laurence Fishburne has directed only “one small film” earlier Once in the Life in 2000, Osburne said he trusts the actor implicitly.
They have been working together for years now, from Apocalypse Now to The Cotton Club and Matrix.
Osburne is also the producer of accomplished Indian director Shekhar Kapur’s Paani (Water), which he said might be delayed since Kapur is “said to be involved in Elizabeth II.”
He said Paani, a “sort of Romeo and Juliet set in a society where the (precious) commodity is water,” might also be renamed in the wake of Deepa Mehta’s Water having already hit the screens.
Osburne, who is credited with developing New Zealand as a filmmakers’ destination following the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, said The Alchemist could be a “great opportunity to portray the Arabian culture in a positive way.”
When a film of epic proportions is shot anywhere, “you are going to build an infrastructure as we did in New Zealand and generate interest in the area,” added the producer, who has worked with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Sydney Pollack.
Osburne said that the poor show of Hollywood productions this year is only a reflection of the industry’s cyclical nature. “There is pressure on those who run the studios to come out with high grossers, which lends itself to films that aren’t necessarily the best or most original,” he noted.
But it is encouraging to watch the emergence of independent films that have a lot of originality.
The boom time for documentaries such as the March of the Penguins is “a sign that people want to see what is topical and connects with the psyche of the general population,” he said.
“But again, that is not a major shift. It just means that you should be paying attention to what is of interest to the population,” he pointed out.
Osburne praised Diff for its “amazing accomplishments in just two years” adding that the festival “makes you want to come back.”
On a personal note, Osburne said the many decades of experience in making films for Hollywood has reinforced the fact that "making films is what I enjoy doing and I have learnt to make large-scale complicated films."
He might produce a series of documentaries on the state of oceans and the environment – a genre he has not tackled.
Talaat Captan, executive vice president, Prime Pictures, said he had been “literally chasing and begging to” Osburne to come to Dubai. “It is such a great opportunity to make his film here and create an industry like (he did) in New Zealand.”
