Have you spotted Harrison Ford in Abu Dhabi yet? The Hollywood actor could be one of the stars already in the capital to film Star Wars: Episode VII.
Paul Baker, the executive director of twofour54 Intaj confirmed to tabloid! on Wednesday that the lead and supporting cast of the much-anticipated film, along with director J.J. Abrams and a 600-strong production crew, have already begun shooting in the Abu Dhabi desert.
“They will be here for three weeks,” said Baker, who revealed talks with producers Lucasfilm began as early as last year to bring the production to the UAE. Baker would not confirm if the Abu Dhabi desert will be used as a setting for the desert planet of Tatooine in the film.
Abu Dhabi is the first location for the seventh installment of the hugely successful space franchise, after which production will head to London’s Pinewood Studios, Baker said. The film is due to premiere globally on December 18 next year.
“We were very excited to start the filming of Star Wars: Episode VII in Abu Dhabi — it has been an incredible place to commence this journey,” said Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, in a statement released by twofour54.
The confirmation comes after months of speculation that the epic space film was heading to the UAE. Rumours that Abu Dhabi would be a location for the film were first confirmed by chairman of Disney’s film unit, Alan Horn, in April, who said then that some secondary scenes had already been shot.
Star Wars: Episode VII is the latest international movie to take advatange of the 30 per cent production rebate offered by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission. High-profile productions that have filmed in the capital in the last 12 months include the paranormal thriller Deliver us from Evil from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures’ Fast & Furious 7 and Bollywood feature film Bang Bang from Fox Star Studios. twofour54 is the commercial arm of Abu Dhabi’s Media Zone Authority.
“The fact that Star Wars in filming here is testament that they have confidence in us as a great filming location, not just because of the rebate,” said Baker. “It’s a demonstration that Abu Dhabi has the infrastructure to provide facilities for film shoots of such magnitude. It’s not just the locations, but the hotels, the production talent and all the things that bringing a massive production to town would require.”
He is grateful to the Abu Dhabi government for all its help, he said.
“We just recently finished Bang Bang and Fast & Furious 7, which required entire roads to be shut down, cars to be crashing and blown up. If it wasn’t with the help of all the government entities, none of this would have happened,” Baker said.
Casting for Star Wars: Episode VII was announced in April. Besides Ford, who will reprise his role as Han Solo, returnees from the first Star Wars trilogy will include Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker; Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia; Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca and Kenny Baker as R2-D2. New members will include performance capture legend Andy Serkis, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow and Domhnall Gleeson.
Star Wars creator Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. J.J. Abrams, known for hits such as Mission: Impossible III, Super 8 and the Star Trek films, was drafted in last year to direct.
As part of the Abu Dhabi rebate, six Emiratis will also have the chance to work on the set through twofour54’s Creative Lab programme. Two of the interns will get to follow the production to Pinewood Studios. The rebate is also offered to television productions, said twofour54 Intaj’ Baker, who said two Bollywood films and two Hollywood films are already lined-up to film in Abu Dhabi next.
“I think we can now confidently say we have the ability to manage any kind of production in Abu Dhabi,” he said. “Especially after getting Fast & Furious 7, Bang Bang and now Star Wars -- three big movies on top of each other. I can say the two that have left have left extremely happy.”
