North Africa has played a pivotal role in blockbuster movies from Gladiator to Star Wars. Joanna Booth guides you to the key locations
The dramatic and varied scenery of North Africa doesn’t only make it a tempting tourist destination – it has also caught the eye of location scouts in the movie business.
From blockbusters to art-house hits, many films have set cameras rolling against a North African backdrop.
So why not pick your favourite celluloid moment and take a trip to see it for real?
Morocco
So many movies have been filmed in Morocco that it’s a wonder there’s room for any tourists.
The desert town of Ouarzazate has become such a popular location that there are now two film studios there. The tall terracotta walls of the kasbah of Ait Benhaddou have hosted greats from Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia to Russell Crowe, who was sold into slavery there in Gladiator.
The spectacular desert scenery has seen an ocean of fake blood spilled. Colin Farrell, with his trademark dark locks dyed blonde, fought the Battle of Gaugamela here in Oliver Stone’s Alexander, and more than 1,000 Moroccan extras slugged it out under Orlando Bloom’s command in Ridley Scott’s Crusades movie, Kingdom of Heaven.
Marrakesh’s kaleidoscopic medina provided a backdrop for Kate Winslet’s portrayal of a hippy mother in Hideous Kinky. The city also has a long history as a film set, reaching back to the 1950s when Hitchcock filmed The Man Who Knew Too Much there.
The picturesque coastal town of Essaouira provided a backdrop for Orson Welles’ take on Shakespearean classic Othello.
Morocco doesn’t only star as itself, either – it has doubled up as Somalia in war movie Black Hawk Down, starring Josh Hartnett; Israel for 1970s epic Jesus of Nazareth and, most surprisingly, as Tibet in Kundun, Martin Scorsese’s tale of the 14th Dalai Lama.
However, the film most famously associated with the country, the classic Casablanca, wasn’t filmed there at all – Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman heard Sam play it again on a set in California.
Sample product: Kuoni offers a seven-night High Atlas Safari visiting Marrakesh, Ouarzazate and Tinghir. It includes a night in a desert camp and a three-night extension to Essaouira and starts at £1,269 twin-share including flights, departing in November.
Tunisia
Cult film fanatics should book a trip to Tunisia. The 1970s saw both Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Star Wars set cameras rolling in the country.
John Cleese, Michael Palin and the rest of the Pythons clashed with the religious establishment after filming much of their comedy around Sousse, Monastir and Matmata.
The famous final crucifixion scene was filmed in the barren desert landscapes of Tataouine. Yes, that’s Tataouine, not Tatooine. Star Wars fanatics will already know that the scenes set in fictional Tatooine were filmed in Tunisia, but in Jerba, Tozeur, Nefta and Matmata.
Scenes of Luke Skywalker’s childhood home were filmed in the Sidi Driss Hotel in Matmata, which you can still visit today.
Harrison Ford, this time starring as Indiana Jones rather than Han Solo, filmed in the streets of Kairouan for Raiders of the Lost Ark, most notably the scene where a master swordsman is no match for Jones’s pistol.
The Tunisian capital and its deserts also starred alongside Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient in 1996.
Tourists can bypass the beach and delve deeper into the interior where these films are set. There are Roman ruins, oases and desert, salt lakes and troglodyte homes.
Sample product: Exodus offers a nine-day Tunisia: Roman Sahara trip, visiting Tunis, Kairouan, Matmata, Tozeur and Nefta, departing February 7 2009, starting at £829 and including flights from London.
Egypt
Egypt’s long and tumultuous history has provided plenty of tales begging for movie adaptation.
Parts of both Elizabeth Taylor’s 1963 star turn in Cleopatra and Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Moses in The Ten Commandments were filmed on location in Egypt, though the country’s dramatic sights have also been used as a backdrop for more contemporary tales.
Peter Ustinov hammed it up as Poirot in Death on the Nile, which features scenes filmed at Giza, Luxor and Abu Simbel. These locations also pop up behind Roger Moore giving it his best as a suave James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me; he even masters enough Arabic to ask “fayn al bint?” – which, somewhat predictably, means “where’s the girl?”
More recently, Hayden Christensen shot on location at the Pyramids for the deeply silly action caper, Jumper.
Those iconic sites that look so good on the silver screen are an enduring draw for tourists who follow the well-worn path from Cairo and Giza to Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel.
Sample product: Hayes and Jarvis offers a seven-night Treasures of Egypt tour including a four-night cruise from Luxor to Aswan plus time in Cairo from £749 with return flights from Heathrow and an English-speaking guide.
Jordan
Petra pops up in the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The movie’s Canyon of the Crescent Moon is Jordan’s rose-red city. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery rush out from the narrow Siq – the eastern entrance – as their quest for the grail reaches its climax.
This renowned archeological site hardly needs extra publicity; tourists flock to see the awe-inspiring ruined city in their millions every year. It has been named as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Sample product: Cox and Kings offers a seven-night group tour, Splendours of Jordan, visiting Petra plus Jerash, Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea, starting at £1,475 including flights, transfers and all excursions, departing in November.
