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