Film crews are back on the streets of Dubai this week as shooting of Twisted Blues gets under way.
There are no aliens in town this time around, though, as there were during 2015's Star Trek Beyond shoot. Twisted Blues deals with a more sombre issue – domestic violence, chronicling one woman's escape from the cycle through training in mixed martial arts.
The movie is bringing its fair share of international talent to Dubai, including The Scientist's Brittany Benjamin, LBJ's Brent Bailey and Grey's Anatomy star Josh Crotty.
The crew is an international affair, too, with Dubai-based director Jac Mulder lining up alongside international talent including assistant director Chris Roland, whose work includes the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. He also produced Mulder's debut feature, Bordering on Bad Behaviour, in 2014.
Despite the cosmopolitan crew, director Mulder says the movie is very much a local affair, and highlights the helping hand received from Dubai businesses.
“The unique thing about this movie is it’s going to be shot, produced, edited, post-produced, everything, entirely in Dubai,” he says.
“This is my little baby and it has taken me a long time to get off the ground, with a lot of trip-ups along the way, but we’ve eventually got to where we are now. It really feels like the whole country has got behind me. The NMC [National Media Council] sorted out permits in record time, we’ve had people helping out with reading the scripts, we had Triumph giving us a really beautiful motorcycle for some scenes, Sony [helped out with] all the phones and electrical. It’s been a really beautiful journey that’s resulted in this big collective, and now it’s just left for me to fulfil all the obligations that leaves me with.”
The man with the chequebook, executive producer Kish Pagarani, is confident Mulder can meet those obligations.
“For me, this is the first film of Jac’s that has real international, mass-audience appeal,” he says.
“I really think this can go all the way and make a big impression in Hollywood as well as locally. Every major director, producer, film company that makes a movie tries to replicate some kind of formula that makes the movie a success, but we also know not every movie is a success. I really believe this has all the ingredients. We have a great story, a good script, wonderful actors, and that’s what we plan to do.”
Pagarani isn’t the only one who thinks Mulder can be one of the first local directors to break into Hollywood.
“I came here because I believe in this guy,” says Tinseltown veteran Roland. “I produced his first film and it’s actually one of my favourite films I’ve ever worked on. I had fun working with him and he did a great job, and that’s why I came back.”
Mulder clearly has plenty of support from his team. He recalls the seeds of the film came during a business meeting.
“It came from an idea that jumped into my head in a meeting, when a distribution company asked me to make a film that was interesting, engaging, has a unique reason and relevance for international actors,” he says. “They gave me these rules and guidelines and I actually really thank them for that. It’s given me my objective to have a bit comedy, bit of action, have a message, make people laugh, make people cry and, more importantly, inspire all those people out there that have maybe been treated badly and make them stand up for themselves, believe in themselves and go back out there.”
Twisted Blues is shooting at various locations around Dubai until Monday. Pagarani says distribution deals for a number of regions, including the Middle East, are already in place, and the film should be ready for release in September or October.
In the meantime, you can keep up with the shoot on the Twisted Blues Facebook page.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
