UNITED KINGDOM: Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner walk the red carpet in London to promote the action-thriller, "The Kingdom"

Record ID: 219427

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner walk the red carpet in London to promote the action-thriller, "The Kingdom"
  • Date: 10th October 2007
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 4, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS ACTOR ASHRAF BARHOM TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) ASHRAF BARHOM, ACTOR PLAYING COLONEL AL GHAZI, SAYING: "I believe the movie brought something new, and from the first moment I felt this script is different and trying to make a balance and have a positive attitude towards this sensitive issue. So I feel I can say it is really different and it is an important step for other movies to come and carry on building, not destroying connections.
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVAA3VT1KBR3KXEJNBW58OUETEIB
  • Story Text: Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and co-star Jennifer Garner premiered their new film "The Kingdom" in London's Leicester Square on Thursday (October 4).
    When a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing hundreds of oil workers, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx) and his team of investigators head up a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the person behind the bombing. But on arrival in the Saudi Kingdom, Fleury and his team discover that the Saudi authorities are suspicious and unwelcoming of the American investigative team. Hamstrung by protocol --and with the clock ticking -- the FBI agents have to find a way of gaining the trust of the Saudi police authorities and getting them to assist the FBI team with their investigation.
    To add authenticity to the production of the film, director Peter Berg and producer Michael Mann wanted to have key scenes shot in the Middle East.
    After careful consultation, Mann and Berg chose Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the seven United Arab Emirates. The only catch, Abu Dhabi had never played host to a large film production from the west.
    "We wanted to go to the Middle East and film and that is not the easiest thing to do anymore," said Berg at the London premiere. "We were fortunate to meet the government of Abu Dhabi, and the United Arab Emirates and they welcomed us there. We went there, it was very hot, they had never had an American film crew; they had never seen movie sets or certainly movie stars. So for us to come in there and kind of take over their streets for a month was a very extraordinary experience."
    Having spent a month filming in Abu Dhabi in blistering heat, that affected actress Jennifer Garner so badly she fainted twice on set, actor Jamie Foxx considered the assignment a success.
    "We had a great time, Abu Dhabi there is a lot of money. I did all the tourist stuff, I was riding camels in the desert and I was in all the good hotels, I had a great time."
    Ashraf Barhom, better known for his role in the 2005 Oscar nominated drama 'Paradise Now' makes his American feature film debut playing Colonel Al Ghazi, A Saudi policeman assigned to protect the visiting Americans.
    "I believe the movie brought something new," Barhom told Reuters. "From the first moment I felt this script is different and trying to make a balance and have a positive attitude towards this sensitive issue. So I feel I can say it is really different and it is an important step for other movies to come and carry on building, not destroying connections."
    Jamie Foxx explains why the production wanted to shoot more culturally sensitive scenes of the film in America so as to avoid aggravating their hosts in the United Arab Emirates.
    "We did most of it in Phoenix and then we did some stuff to tie it up in Abu Dhabi, but we wanted to be respectful in the fact that the gun playing and everything we didn't want to do it in their neighbourhoods and everything. So we did a lot of the just driving in the truck and the chasing, but we were very careful in not do anything that would be considered disrespectful."
    Foxx who won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004 for his portrayal of the legendary Ray Charles believes that actors have to be accountable to the memory of the people and the roles that actors have the privilege to play.
    "I think that is our responsibility to keep a lot of it in our life. Show light where light can't be shown. In this it is not a political movie, which is beautiful about it, it wasn't America banging the drum and saying America is the greatest, it was just a real movie about real folks."
    The Kingdom is released nationwide in the United Kingdom on Friday (October 5).
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