Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Morocco on Film
!
Othello (1952)
Orson Welles put the
Moor in Morocco, shooting
much of his troubled master-
piece in Essaouira.
@
The Man Who Knew
Too Much (1955)
Hitchcock filmed James
Stewart and Doris Day in the
Mamounia and Jemaa El Fna.
£
Our Man in Marrakech
(1966)
A little-seen silly spy comedy,
but the city features heavily.
Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill
&
John Paul Getty Jr.
$
Kundun (1997)
In the 1960s, American oil
heir John Paul Getty Jr. and his
wife Talitha owned a place in the
medina. They were famously
photographed by Patrick Lichfield
clad in kaftans on their mansion's
roof terrace with a backdrop of
the Atlas Mountains.
*
Paul Bowles
The Atlas Mountains were
cast as Tibet in this Scorsese
epic. Some of the film's props
can still be seen at Kasbah du
Toubkal
(see p56)
.
%
Hideous Kinky (1998)
The souks and Jemaa El
Fna were prominent in this
film adaptation of Emma
Freud's autobiographical book.
^
Gladiator (2000)
The author of
The Sheltering
Sky
was an occasional visitor to
Marrakech. There's a famous
photograph of him from 1961
taken while he was sitting on the
roof terrace of the Café Glacier.
(
General Charles de Gaulle
Russell Crowe is sold into
slavery at Aït Benhaddou
(see
p95)
. Also shot here were
The
Last Temptation of Christ
and
Lawrence of Arabia
.
&
Black Hawk Down
(2001)
US marines, caught in a
firefight in Somalia, did all
their shooting in Morocco.
After the Casablanca
Conference in January 1943, a
meeting of leaders of the Allied
forces, General Charles de
Gaulle travelled to Marrakech,
staying at the Mamounia Hotel.
The hotel's director had to create
a bed for him in order to accom-
modate his considerable frame.
)
Robert Plant
*
Alexander (2004)
Alexander of Macedonia
was, in fact, Alexander
of Marrakech.
(
Kingdom of Heaven
(2005)
The Mediterranean port for
embarkation to the Holy Land
in this Ridley Scott epic is the
port city, Essaouira.
Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert
Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page
first visited Marrakech in 1975.
Twenty years later, they recorded
some video footage on Jemaa El
Fna to accompany the release of
their album, “No Quarter .
)
Babel (2006)
The village of Tazatine in
southern Morocco appears as
itself in this film.
35
For more on Essaouira, favoured Hollywood destination in
Morocco,
see pp80-83.
