The Completed Lebanon

The movie is "complete."

The timing of shooting was such that i didn't have time to travel to different countries before having to depart. Instead, i rented a car and set out for a two day trip around Lebanon - my two main goals - the ruins of Baalabek and a town called The Cedars.

The plan: drive to Balbek, then drive through the mountains to The Cedars.


My rental car and I prepare to set out:


Baalbek is a few hours from Beirut in the Bekaa Valley.

Traveling shot:


I crossed the mountains and descended into the town of Zahle, where i stopped for lunch. There's a famous walking area full of touristy places to eat.


The nice thing in Lebanon, even touristy places are wonderful.


After filling me full of hummus, lamb, beef, rice, etc - they expected me to eat this half a watermelon.


Then i was off again. There are some fairly ugly stretches of the Bekaa


But there are some cool sites along the way as well.


After an hour of driving, Baalbek hove into view:


It didn't look like much at first, especially considering it's thought of as one of the finest examples of a Roman Temple in the world.


However, my feelings changed once inside.


The Temple of Bacchus (one of my favorite Roman Gods) was beautifully preserved:




These columns are some 60 feet high.


Mind you, i'm no sucker for Roman ruins. I've been around the block. I've seen (and been bored by) my fair share of "important" sites. But Baalbek was stunning.

Pictures of yourself when you're traveling alone are stupid:


Finishing up i hit the road about 7:30 pm to drive through the mountains to get to The Cedars. It was quite beautiful that evening:


Unfortunately, this was my last picture before the battery on my camera went out. Luckily, i had my iphone.

The road through the mountains turned out to be rather small. Which explained why people responded with "you're going to do what?" when I explained I was driving from Baalbek to The Cedars.


It was getting dark. I hadn't seen another car for about 15 minutes:



I could see the mountains i had to cross, snow capped, in the distance:


Though it was quiet and a bit forbidding, all seemed perfectly fine. Nobody had said this couldn't be done. It just seemed that nobody had really wanted to try.

I started to feel like I was really making progress as my little road started meandering steeply upward past large snow falls. Still, no cars for at least 20 minutes was worrisome. None from the other direction at all didn't bode well either.


The absence of cars was soon explained. Suddenly, the road started shrinking. I thought i might be able to go around, driving on the gravel next to the road. However, with a sheer drop to my left I wasn't about to take any chances. So, I stopped to ponder what was happening to my one lane road.

My original idea of going around the snow suddenly seemed a bit...speculative. I was going to have to turn back.

The road just vanished under snow and off the edge. No signs, no gates. Done.


Resigned Lebanese Cross Country Happiness. More self photos - yuck!


Spent a night in a hotel back near Baalbek. Then back to Beirut and the United States a day later.

Lebanon Complete. Thanks.

Installment 7: Easter Kuwait Fog

We shot on Easter in a small town just outside of Tripoli.

The US State Department would not be pleased with me:

The Department of State continues to urge that Americans avoid all travel to Lebanon. Americans who live and work in Lebanon presently should understand that they are accepting risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks, especially those in Tripoli.

(In all honesty, they're not wrong - as we approach June elections, things are beginning to feel more unsettled. We've been in the vicinity of a few ugly incidents. )

Holidays, however, are a great time to shoot - There's less traffic, minimal noise and....fantastic outfits!
A visitor to our set:

And another:

And of course:


But can you believe it? One woman owns all three!


Also in Tripoli we shot at a Turkish Bath house.


We decided to use a smoke machine for the location, rather than real steam which wouldn't be good for the camera. However, we over did it.


And had to escape to a different room (you can see our old room through the doorway).


The most interesting part of our shoot that day? These extras we hired turned out to be Christian Iraqi refugees. The guy I talked to was a professor of mathematics trying to get his family to the US. Good guys, bad actors.



The director and I share a love of Woody Allen movies. So in honor of Manhattan:


Our attempt:


Considering Woody


We had (another) five day shooting vacation this week. And, by wonderful coincidence, one of my oldest friends, Stefan, was going to be in Kuwait at the same time. Stefan is a member of a jazz quartet on a goodwill tour sponsored by the US State Department.

With time off and a friend from Tenafly in the region, I was off to Kuwait.

Kuwait has a nice post-apocalyptic feel to it.



Somehow, as soon as you get to country which doesn't allow alcohol - you have an overwhelming desire to drink.

Stefan and I attempted to entertain ourselves by going to the Kuwait City Ice skating rink.

Stef claimed to have moves


post-apocalyptic rink


They don't allow cameras inside I'm afraid...but the women in Abayas skating were as adorable as you'd imagine.

The Chris Byars Quartet performing, at the behest of the US government, at the cultural center of Kuwait City.


Stef behind the drums


Me being friendly


Us touristing


My friend Nicola would be a model in Kuwait



Once back in Lebanon (nothing makes you appreciate Lebanon like going to Kuwait) we had more shooting to do.

But first, where toilets go to die


We had a big night exterior shoot.



We tried to use a smoke machine to make it look cool. Then mother nature showed us how it was done.


Fog makes me hungry


Cranes, however, make me happy.


Not much to report really. We're finishing up. I'm heading back to the US fairly soon. Some things I'm looking forward to:
exercise
burritos
flaming margaritas
a country of laws

Installment 6: Peace in the Middle East?

Our movie involves a series of flashbacks to an idyllic village from our main character's childhood. We chose a town called Batroun to use as our location.

The streets are wonderfully quaint.

There's a beautiful seashore with picturesque little cafes.



And a big square was available for us to create the town square. All seemed perfect.

We even went so far as to test some fireworks. We drove out to a quiet stretch of Lebanese highway:

and....



And thus shooting started in Batroun. We shot our first night there without incident. We rested and then shot our first day there.


All went fairly well. We did have to pay off a few of the people who live/work along the street we were closing. Mind you, we had official permission to be there.


On the second day one of the locals, a guy we'd already paid off, demanded more money. He essentially blackmailed us by threatening to shut down our production if we didn't pay. The rule of law is not particularly strong in Lebanon - so there was real possibility the guy could do what he claimed...or at least delay things long enough to destroy our schedule.

Walid - our producer went to talk to him. Walid, unfortunately, loses his temper quite easily and when he does it resembles a volcanic eruption. All of a sudden I heard yelling and emerged from setting up a shot to see people streaming into the blackmailers store. By the sounds -it was obvious things were getting physical and people were trying to keep the two men apart.


A moment later Walid was back out on the street - inconsolably angry. Any thought of what's "good for the production" gone!

I must admit - I was rather amused by all this drama. These two men were displaying an amount of rational thought usually reserved for dog fights. Such drama you rarely see short of Verdi. At some point blackmailer came out and theatrically ripped up the $200 we'd given him:


Things got a bit more serious when the blackmailers daughter showed up. She was also beside herself, angry that somebody had been yelling at her father. This lady was an irrational lunatic...showing not an ounce of restraint.

Daughter started running around, attacking pieces of gear with chairs. Her lunging at our dolly with a sun umbrella reminded me of a Lebanese Dona Quixote. My amusement began to wane, however, when i remembered that these people lived through a 20+ year civil war...the kind with guns...a religious war no less - the really rational kind!

Turns out this whole guy's family...and extended family, live in the area. Tempers flared again when the granddaughter of blackmailer entered the fray and went after Walid. You can see blackmailer in the blue shirt behind her. She wore cute pink pajamas to the rumble.

I was standing right next to her as she sank her nails into Walid's face, coming away with:


Things were really starting to get ugly. Especially as more people were arriving from other blocks. There was almost a massive showdown between their giant...


and our giant...

I stupidly inserted myself between these two guys - thinking that they'd realize the American people had rejected the erstwhile bellicosity of the Bush administration for the prudent dialog of the Obama administration. I should have just run away...like the French.

Finally the police, the kind with M-16's showed up. (God forbid they actually carry handcuffs!) It was just in time as the blackmailer's son arrived soon after - with a bat - and so beside himself with rage that it took his sister, niece and two police officers to restrain him. I've never seen such blind rage.

That was enough for me. I had our guys pack up the equipment and we were done with the crazies.


Later at our new location the blackmailer drove by - stalking us evidently. He yelled a bunch of threats at us and drove away. Turns out our child star's father is a judge. Blackmailer spent the next six days in jail.

Next Up: Easter and Fog