Brangelina are in Ras Al Khaimah. Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have touched down in the UAE and – according to sources within the emirate – will remain in the country while Pitt completes the filming of his Netflix produced action drama War Machine.
As previously reported in The National, production in Ras Al Khaimah is set to continue until Monday.
The couple are said to have arrived last week after completing promotional duties for their new drama By The Sea.
The atmospheric film has both Pitt and Jolie (who is also the director) star as a jaded couple trying to resuscitate their fraught marriage – reviews of By The Sea has so far being lacklustre.
After walking the red carpet in Los Angeles last week, the couple have flown to RAK, where Pitt is currently working on the final stretch of shooting for the War Machine.
According to various sources close to the production, Pitt is joined by fellow cast members Topher Grace (who was last spotted in the UAE in 2011 to promote the spy thriller The Double as part of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival), Scot Mcnairy, Alan Ruck, and Will Poulter who posted on Instagram an image of himself being driven down Sheikh Zayed Road en route to Dubai, during a break from the Abu Dhabi filming on October 26.
The US$60 million (Dh220 million) project sees some of the urban and desert landscapes of the UAE double up as Afghanistan.
While last month’s urban Abu Dhabi shoot (which also starred Pitt) had the tight one-way road, off 15th street and parallel to Sultan Bin Zayed the First transform into locations including The American Embassy of Kabul and The International Security Assistance Force, filming in Ras Al Khaimah is centred around the former fishing town of Al Hamra which has been re-imagined as Pakistani villages and a military base-camp. New road signage and boards in Urdu have been erected, while helicopters and military lorries have been spotted in the old Emirati neighbourhood. Sources with knowledge of the production say that Pitt, Grace, Poulter, Mcnairy and Ruck were spotted wearing military fatigues during the filming.
This has been further complimented by various images appearing on Instagram of the RAK shoot. Sound recordist Farhad Rahmani posted on his Instagram account various images and video of a military helicopter taking off from a dusty military base.
While the ras_al_khaima.eu Instagram account shows a helicopter parking beside a series of military lorries – the post's associated hashtags include filmset #rasalkhaima. The developments come on the back of The National's recent exclusive interview with Bobby Joe Lewis who spoke of his experience as an extra on War Machine.
The 60-year-old ex-military man had confirmed to The National that production in Ras Al Khaimah began on November 4 with Pitt set to make an appearance portraying the real life character of General Stanley A McChrystal. Lewis says some of the scenes in the emirate will be tense. "They're doing some door knocking and pulling people out of houses this week," he said. "It's going to be realistic. I think it's the right-looking terrain. I'm quite sure he'll [Pitt] be doing something [in Ras Al Khaimah] because that's the kind of terrain where McChrystal was the clean-up man."
The Ras Al Khaimah shoot also features plenty of UAE-based extras. Most of them came from a second casting call held at twofour54 by Miranda Davidson Studio, who were reportedly looking for former military personnel with specialised weapons experience.
artslife@thenational.ae
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Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
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Results
Stage three:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-43
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
5. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
6. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) UAE-Team Emirates, at 24s
General Classification:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-13-02
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin Fenix, at 12s
4. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.