Annansi Chronicles

Morocco’s desert region a widescreen backdrop for Hollywood films

Speaking about the Ouarzazate region in Morocco, The Global Post reports:

Chances are you’ve unwittingly seen this region’s wild vistas in any number of movies. Among other locales, the desert was billed as Iraq in “Body of Lies,” dressed up as Jerusalem in “Kingdom of Heaven” and transformed into ancient Egypt in “The Mummy Returns.”

An array of ready-built sets, cheap labor and stunning landscapes has helped turn this sleepy provincial capital into a Third World Hollywood.

Production remnants abound, from concrete castles and plaster villages, to an American gas station falling to pieces beside a two-lane road. Featured in the horror film “The Hills Have Eyes,” its English sign offers non-existent beer to the Muslim drivers passing by.

But veterans of the country’s film trade say they wish more of their studios were in use this year. The global downturn has caused several big films to cancel or push back start dates, delaying cash upon which a growing population of technicians, actors and extras have come to depend.

The video below tells an interesting story of the North African desert’s draw for Hollywood.

If you can’t see the video above click here.

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