Jac Mulder’s 2014 film, Bordering on Bad Behaviour, chronicled the story of three soldiers trapped together in a Middle Eastern military base. But his next, a Hollywood effort currently filming in Dubai, will take a different turn.
The South African director and long-term UAE resident is filming, producing and post-producing Twisted Blues entirely in Dubai. Set to release in September, the movie will mix comedy, romance and action to tell the story of Mia (Brittany Benjamin), an expat and artist living in the city, who rides a motorcycle and keeps to herself.
When a big event arrives, things get out of hand. Mia’s wicked sense of humour and arsenal of backhanded compliments land her in trouble, and she winds up getting hurt.
At the advice of her best friend Johnny (Brent Bailey), she turns towards mixed martial arts (MMA) to protect herself, but comes face-to-face with fighter Frankie (Josh Crotty) who refuses to train women.
“It’s the usual story — man, gym, testosterone — but she steps up and proves her way,” Mulder told Gulf News tabloid!. “The beauty of the story is that, if you were a woman sitting at home and you struggled with domestic violence, it will ring true what Mia does [next].”
Mia goes into the gym the first time and gets knocked to the ground. She goes in a second time and gets knocked to the ground. But the third time, she does research online and comes in with newfound information on how to defend herself.
“She makes a mistake, literally slips and causes a big ruckus and knocks out the trainer by accident … As a result, whole story builds around these two very different characters that end up falling in love, and having a very, very deep connection,” said Mulder.
Though the story may sound reminiscent of 2004 boxing flick Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Hilary Swank, Mulder is quick to stress the films are opposites in their approach, and that Twisted Blues employs more humour.
TAKING SWIPES
The idea came to Mulder two years ago, during an “inspirational conversation” he had with Vox Cinemas. He was asked to base a film in Dubai, portraying believable expat characters from the region.
The film, one of the first to shoot in 8K resolution outside of America, stars Benjamin of The Scientist, Bailey of Palo Alto, and Crotty, who has guest starred in Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and NCIS.
A typical day on set involves up to 50 crew members filming in various spots around Dubai. This includes Platform Gym, a space provided free-of-charge for the duration of six days.
Mulder admits that he isn’t a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) himself, but had the help of six professionals from Al Quoz, who regularly came on set to guide the cast through their fight scenes. Mulder was careful that no one get hurt.
“The actors aren’t allowed to hit each other — they can’t actually punch. We have continuity [to consider], so we can’t have black eyes that are actually created by mistake,” he said.
And despite the film’s sensitive subject matter and action-packed scenes, it won’t try to bring its audience down, but rather to elevate them.
“I’m not going to make a brutal or violent looking film. I’m going to make a film that takes you on the journey as opposed to showing the gruesomeness of it,” said Mulder.
Mia’s journey comes full circle when she inspires another, much younger girl, aged six, who begins to learn MMA, as well. In one scene, the girl and Mia are tussling on the carpet and the girl’s mum walks in to ask what her daughter is doing.
“She goes, ‘I’m learning how to fight, mum.’ And her mum says, ‘But why?’ And the little girl says, ‘To protect you from daddy.’ Which is kind of a hard-hitting fact — a lot of kids do suffer from domestic violence,” said Mulder.
