Lebanese setting for spy caper movie a golden opportunity

I have just finished Ben Macintyre's brilliant A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. Not everyone knows that it was from Beirut that the notorious British traitor defected to the Soviet Union in January 1963.

The treachery of which he had been suspected for years was now beyond doubt and Philby, then working for both MI6 and as a correspondent for The Observer and The Economist, knew it was time to disappear, or do a "fade", as spies call it, and sailed into exile aboard a Russian cargo ship docked in the Lebanese capital.

Within two years the incident inspired what would be a trio of spy movies. In Where the Spies Are, David Niven played our man in Beirut, staying at the Alcazar Hotel (now the head office of HSBC). In Twenty Four Hours to Kill, released in the same year, Mickey Rooney met a sticky end amid the ruins of Baalbek, and in 1972 Richard Roundtree and Chuck Connors chased the KGB around Parliament Square in Embassy. All fabulous stuff.

Some might argue that the country’s current vibe is more Kim Kardashian than Kim Philby, but the fact remains that Lebanon, and Beirut in particular, is coated with a permanent patina of intrigue and glamour that is both advertising gold dust and an useful foil to the bling and Botox of the present. If only it could be bottled and sold, especially given that Lebanon’s tourist industry is currently bobbing in the economic doldrums.

Last week, the tourism minister Michel Pharaon assured us all was well and that the country was once again open for business by bullishly announcing a new “Live Love Lebanon” campaign, due to be launched on Sunday. It will no doubt involve the usual formula with the usual clichés and at the end of the day achieve very little.

Mr Pharaon should liaise with his opposite number at the Ministry of culture on ways to sell Lebanon a place to make movies. OK, the Americans might shy away, but the artier and altogether cooler European filmmakers would surely come. A movie set in Lebanon that would ignite the global imagination, and trust me, Lebanon’s stock would hit an all time high.

Dubai has already gone down this path. In late 2011, Tom Cruise went there for the premiere of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. "I've always wanted to shoot here back from when I was watching the city being built," said Cruise. "Many people have asked us about travelling here and what it was like. People are very interested to come here and shoot."

That was probably nothing more than a lot of PR guff but I bet a lot of people bought into it. As for the film, much of the action was shot around the 830-metre Burj Khalifa. The landmark, as much as Cruise's gushing admiration of the emirate, signalled Dubai's arrival as a bona fide location option. Since then, Abu Dhabi has followed Dubai's lead. It recently hosted filming of Fast & Furious 7 and shooting for the next Star Wars instalment begins this week.

Not doing anything only serves to compromise brand Lebanon. Two years ago, we all watched in horror as season two of Homeland, which was filmed in Israel, portrayed bustling Hamra Street as nothing more than a filthy alley inhabited by foaming terrorists.

Let’s face it, Lebanon is in the news. George Clooney has snagged himself a Lebanese fiancée and will apparently marry in Lebanon; Lebanese food and drink has never been more popular, and Beirut, despite everything, has never lost its appeal as an edgy destination.

A Spy Among Friends is currently riding high in the bestseller lists. It's a heck of a story, one that is long overdue an outing on the silver screen. I would be very surprised if the book has not been optioned. If it is, a film shot in Beirut, one in all the clichés are slapped on with a trowel so that everything from the scenery, the décor, the dresses, the cocktails and even the cigarette holders is achingly cool, then Lebanon will have a tourism campaign like no other.

Just saying.

Michael Karam is a freelance writer based in Beirut

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