Friday, April 9, 2010

It happens to all of us...

"You are fun in Abu Dhabi."

-Kim Cattrell's Samantha to Cynthia Nixon's Miranda in Sex and the City 2, which hits (but definitely not in the UAE) theatres May 27.

Check out how they created an idea of Emirates Palace out of some sort of set in Marrakesh (Dubai passed, which begs the question: did producers even ask to shoot in the capital emirate or did they just get tired?) here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for pointing that out. I had been wondering about the ad campaigns and why Abu Dhabi is being touted in the press when clearly the movie was shot in Morocco.

However, there is an angle missing in the whole "fun in Abu Dhabi" story; the city/state has and is investing heavily in Hollywood, anywhere from 1 to 2 Billion US$ and this is probably why the "Arabian Desert" is being mentioned in the first place.

I am not claiming that the mere (supposedly positive) mention of a place should or does come with a price-tag but I am assuming that is one of the reasons behind it.

Are the investments from the Emirates, or any Arab Gulf states, in the US entertainment industry open for the public to see and investigate or is it all hush-hush?

As for the previous "firing left and right" comment I posted a while back; I am always confused that there are no reliable sources regarding either policy, events or anything for that matter either within the country itself or in the "Western" press.

European and American media is focused on the sensationalist side of things and has become since the 1st Gulf War increasingly untrustworthy. Whereas Arab press is simply a tool of the Monarchs of the region.

I wish there is such a thing as an independent think-tank in the Arabian Gulf region that reviews the effectiveness of such projects as Masdar, Education City or the proposed new film studios in your adopted town.

Ann Marie said...

a) if AD didn't pay for the SATC mention, then they are one lucky emirate, and if they did, how smart is that?

b) how exactly do you think an independent think tank such as you propose would work (ie stay open)? If that idea were even possible reporting here would be done much differently...

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