The wait is almost over to see how the UAE looks in the Netflix movie War Machine, which stars Brad Pitt. After all the trailers and hype, the film will be available to stream globally from Friday.
The making of the movie provided a boost for the booming UAE film-production industry – it shot for almost a month in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, bringing some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Pitt, Ben Kingsley, Will Poulter and Tilda Swinton to the country.
It also created jobs for local and international cast and crew members. For the more than 2,000 extras who appear in the movie, the real excitement will be about the possibility of seeing themselves on screen more so than the film itself.
“I was so happy when I heard that I would be featured in the movie and couldn’t believe when [casting agent] Miranda [Davidson] gave me the news I would be acting with Brad Pitt,” says Abdul Whab, an Abu Dhabi-raised Afghan, one of the extras. “The whole day I thought as if I was dreaming because to work in Hollywood is like a dream for everyone and Miranda made that dream of mine come true.”
Davidson has been the local casting agent in the UAE for several big Hollywood movies in recent years, including Furious 7. "Every project is different, that's what makes film exciting," she says. "Being able to cast a movie with a modern-day feel, with flashy cars and a jet-setting lifestyle like Fast and Furious 7, and then to turn around just over a year later and cast a film about war-torn Afghanistan – all in the UAE – makes me feel like my efforts in the country have really made a statement that says we can truly do anything when it comes to film."
• War Machine will be streaming on Netflix. Check out Arts& Life on Sunday for our review
cnewbould@thenational.ae