November 08-2013
British actor Ben Kingsley has been signed to play the last Shah of Iran in a new feature film that will focus on the hostage crisis, the Shah’s overthrow and the last two years of his life.
Gateway Films, a UK-based production house, and Mena CineFinance, which operates out of Los Angeles and the UAE, will be working with the actor to make a $40 million drama they say will “highlight the failure of American foreign policy during that period.”
The film will probe the political competence and alliances of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, against the backdrop of his personal and family life.
“There is a lot of noise around, particularly with [Presidents] Nixon and Carter having overindulged the Shah, without being ready for the consequences of that policy and how it affected the view of Saudi Arabia,” Chris Howard, a producer at Gateway Films, told The National, an Abu Dhabi English language daily.
“They were slightly imperialistic in the way they approached it and it was kind of a replacement for a more sympathetic foreign policy for the region. This will be a good political story to tell,” Howard said.
The producers insisted the movie would not be a lopsided account, but hope to “set the record straight” on the lead-up to the storming of the US embassy.
“The only thing most Americans know is the aftermath of the failure of the policy when it comes to the hostage situation. What they do not appreciate is how the Shah manipulated America and how he was over-endorsed, which led to the Islamic revolution.”
Howard told The National the film would be a balanced rendition of the facts that were excluded from Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning movie “Argo,” which dealt with one very narrow subplot of the hostage crisis.
“It won’t be like Argo, where you have the Americans coming in and saving the hostages, but you will also see the way they worked at arming the Shah.”
He said he believes the Iranian government has a legitimate reason to be offended by the skewed narration of the revolution in “Argo.”
Howard said, “’Argo’ tells you a story in which Iran is painted in a very dark way and the Islamic revolution has one dimension – where people were tortured.”
In January, the Iranian government said it would back a big- budget movie by a local movie- maker to correct the alleged misconceptions floated by “Argo.” Ataollah Salmanian, a writer and filmmaker in Iran, told the local press that the proposed movie, “The General Staff,” would be the female and black American hostages who were freed after a few weeks.
Michelle Nicholson, a producer with Mena CineFinance, said the producers of the Kingsley film have been invited by the Iranian Culture Ministry to shoot at the Shah’s palace.
“To be able to shoot there will provide that authenticity and personal touch that I would like in the movie,” says Nicholson. “His personal life interacts with his political life, so the location is very important. We also want to portray him as a family man, who was detached from his political figure.”
At the same time, Howard said, the producers do not want to take sides. “We just want to make a good movie with the facts. And the relationship the Shah had with America and all the manipulation is what makes it interesting. He was an incredible diplomat and strategist. He had a vision to become the financial center in the Middle East,” said Howard.
Terry Stone of Gateway Films said they plan to sign on an Oscar- nominated writer who has tackled historical dramas in the past.
“We need someone A-rated to work with Sir Kingsley,” said Stone, whose production house makes independent films.
“To get Gandhi to play Shah, that is great. All our other efforts need to match that,” said Stone, referring to Kingsley’s portrayal of the Indian leader in the 1982 biopic “Gandhi.”
Kingsley also played an Iranian Air Force officer in the 2003 film, “House of Sand and Fog,” in which Shohreh Aghdashloo portrayed his wife and won an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.