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False
Projects
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By
Maged Hebtah
Translated by Abdelazim R. Abdelazim
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09/08/2004
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Caricature of al-Akkad
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In
the lobby of the New Cairo Hotel, with the blaring volume of the classical
“background” music making me increasingly uneasy about the clarity of my
sound recording, I discuss the failed projects falsely attributed to him, with
the director-producer Mustapha Al-Akkad. The public reads about such projects in
newspapers, probes for their authenticity, and finds out that the news is false
and merely brought into the world to polish the image of some other failed
director. Al-Akkad comments that he rejoices in such news, as it shows that
those slanderers greatly appreciate his name and standing.
Al-Akkad
tells me that dozens of actresses, some of whose names he has never even heard,
approach him at festivals and conferences and request to be photographed with
him. After a day or two, he comes across the photos published in a newspaper or
magazine with a caption that Al-Akkad had chosen this-or-that actress to play
the heroine role next to this-or-that superstar actor in a new blockbuster!
Are
people hauling with the name of Al-Akkad?
“Neither
hauling or anything like that,” he replies laughingly, “It is a simple
matter; as long as they don’t mention my name in a disgraceful context, I’m
delighted.”
The
Hebron Operation
I
mention the movie The Hebron Operation to him, which, it turns out, he
has never heard about. I tell him that Reuters News Agency published a headline
in September 2002 claiming that Al-Akkad would direct a film about
Israel’s interference in the selection of the American president. The body of the
news maintained that the internationally renowned producer, Mustapha Al-Akkad,
had agreed to the proposal of the Egyptian Company for Cinematic Production and
Distribution to produce a movie based on the novel The Hebron Operation, written
by a former CIA agent. The source of this news, according to Reuters, was Dr.
Salah Hasabulnabi, CEO of the Egyptian Company for Cinematic Production and
Distribution, who had reported that the film would carry the same title as the
novel.
This
news was then published by many Arab papers, some of which added that the
project was initiated after the decision of the company to postpone the
international Egyptian movie project on the Arab civilization of
Andalusia
because of its very high production costs.
Among
other things, Salah Hasabulnabi announced that he had been in contact with the
celebrated director Mustapha Al-Akkad about producing The Hebron Operation for
an international audience.
The
Hebron Operation is a novel written by Eric Jordan, a former CIA officer who
worked in the
Middle East
. It centers on the influence of the Israeli Intelligence Agency, the Mossad, in
selecting the
US
presidents and its practice of attributing their political assassinations to
the Arabs.
Al-Akkad
is very surprised. “I don’t recall anyone ever putting such a proposal to
me.”
The
Vicar Kabuchi
After
the embarrassing history of The Hebron Operation, I hesitate for a moment to
bring up The Vicar Kabuchi. This time, however, the director turns out to
be acquainted with the project, though this history also ended before the
project was begun.
Al-Akkad
told me that Mamdouh Al-Lithy, head of the Cinema Department of the Egyptian
Company of the
Media
Production
City, actually contacted him and presented him with the idea. Al-Akkad was very
enthusiastic about the project, as its aim would be to show the world the
reality of the Palestinian issue. The story of The Vicar Kabuchi would
approach the conflict from a new angle: as a conflict between Zionists and
Arabs, whether Christian or Muslim, rather that a conflict between Zionists and
Muslims. This approach could influence the Western perception of the issue.
From
Al-Akkad’s point of view, the movie could have successfully addressed the West
with its portrayal of a European Christian man of religion, sympathizing with
the Palestinian right to live and defend themselves. It would condemn the cruel
Zionist regime for its attacks against an unarmed people. In this context,
Al-Akkad tells me that he more than once advised Hanan Ashrawi[1]
to wear her crucifix whenever she delivers a speech in an international context
to emphasize that the Palestinian issue is not just a Zionist-Muslim
affair.
The
Vicar Kabuchi lived in the occupied
land
of
Palestine
for a long a time without being involved in any political activity, until one
day in the 1970s a wounded child called Ali sought refuge from the Israeli
forces in his monastery.
At
the time it was published in the papers that Omar Sheriff would take the role of
the Vicar Kabuchi; but what happened then?
“I
believed,” replies Al-Akkad, “that this type of film would most effectively
target the Western audience by featuring English-speaking world-famous stars.
However, I didn’t mind Omar Sheriff because he is an able and famous actor.
“We
would lose much if this film had been starred by local actors, because its
impact would have been confined to the Arab world. If it had featured well-known
Western actors, it would have achieved the desired effect.”
Mamdouh
Al-Lithy responded that he could not provide the necessary budget for the
project Al-Akkad had in mind. The negotiations ended there.
Abdul-Nasser
In
addition to The Hebron Operation and The Vicar Kabuchi, there are
dozens or even hundreds of movie projects to which newspapers have linked
Al-Akkad’s name. Some of these projects were about movies tackling the
biographies of former and current Arab presidents or kings. When I asked
Al-Akkad about the verity of these reports, he posed that contemporary history
knows no honorable Arab leader save Abdul-Nasser, who gave this history an
aspect of dignity and esteem he, as an Arab, has never seen since.
After
seconds of silence, Al-Akkad adds, “I will never forget his speech about the
Egyptian ship, the Cleopatra, which reached
New York
during the War of Attrition. American port workers refused to unload it under
pressure of the Zionist lobby. Abdul-Nasser’s response was a speech addressed
to the Arab port workers from the ocean to the Gulf, requesting that they refuse
to unload of any American ship entering an Arab port.
“The
Arab workers complied with Nasser
’s request, which forced the American army to immediately unload the Cleopatra.
This incident made all the Arab residents in the
United States feel proud of their Arab origin and affiliation to an Arab world on whose land
lived a strong man like Abdul-Nasser.”
Al-Akkad
notes that he produced a 4-hour documentary film about Abdul-Nasser’s life in
English, in which Mohammed Hassanein Haikel is the narrator. The film was not
screened in the
United States
because it covers the event of the Jewish blowup of the Lavon Cinema in
Cairo, known as the Lavon Scandal, and the event of the Israeli sinking of the
American ship
Liberty in the
Mediterranean
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Al-Akkad
also produced a 7-hour Arabic version of that same film, but not a single Arab
channel wanted to broadcast it for reasons he does not know.
With
regard to possible documentaries about other Arab leaders, Al-Akkad laughs, “I
call upon Allah to give me the opportunity to present their biographies as they
are in reality, and this, I believe, would satisfy none of them!”
In
the Interview: Read Also
Maged
Hebtah is a journalist based in Cairo, Egypt
1-
Hanan Ashrawi (b. 1946) is a Christian Palestinian politician, peace
activist, and professor of English literature.
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