Dig will arrive this autumn on USA as a six-episode thriller set in occupied Jerusalem, starring Jason Isaacs as an FBI agent and Anne Heche as head of the local FBI office.
The pilot episode was filmed on location, an experience that executive producer Tim Kring called “absolutely exhilarating.” But recent real-world turmoil has raised serious questions about whether Dig filming can return to the city.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at the summer TV critics’ meeting, Kring explained: “My last two shows — Heroes and Touch — both relied extraordinarily heavily on creating worlds that weren’t really here in Los Angeles, where we shot the shows.
“For Heroes, we shot scenes in Tokyo and Paris and Africa, and we never left a 56km radius of our office,” Kring said. “We created everything with green screens and set extensions and CG [computer graphics]. And so the ability to actually go some place and set up a shot and point your camera and see that world was so fantastic. The number of extraordinary locations that have never been on television — it was a huge honour to do that.”
Scripts are currently being written, with production to resume soon. Kring said the show is following the real-life turmoil in the region with fingers crossed, and a “stand-in” location for occupied Jerusalem is a possibility.
“You CAN shoot other places, if you’re clever,” said the producer, who has made places look like other places many times before. “But we have every intention of going back.”
