Egypt’s state news agency says Hollywood star Tom Hanks has started shooting portions of his new film in the country’s Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.
MENA reported on Saturday that Hanks will film scenes for A Hologram for the King in diving areas off the coast.
The movie is directed by German filmmaker Tom Tykwer and is based on a 2012 novel by Dave Eggers. It’s about a struggling American salesman who travels to Saudi Arabia to sign a contract with a wealthy monarch, but instead finds himself entangled in a series of misadventures.
The movie is set to be released in 2015.
Egyptian officials view Hanks’ visit as a boost to the country’s faltering tourism industry, a top foreign currency earner battered by three years of political turmoil.
