The Message
Short description
The Message is a historical drama set in Mecca during the early seventh century, when the city's wealth and power rested on the worship of its many idols. A merchant named Muhammad begins to preach that there is only one God, drawing followers from among the poor and the enslaved while unsettling Mecca's ruling families. Abu Sufyan and his wife Hind, who lead the city's resistance, respond to the new teaching with persecution, torture and eventually the expulsion of Muhammad and his community. The film follows the believers through exile and their eventual return to the sacred city, presenting the birth of Islam as an epic struggle between an old order and a new faith.
Directed by Moustapha Akkad, this was the first of the two features he made, followed by Lion of the Desert in 1981. He produced it with Harold Buck from a screenplay by H.A.L. Craig, Tawfiq Al-Hakim and Mohammad Ali Maher, and assembled an international cast that includes Anthony Quinn as Hamza, Irene Papas as Hind, Michael Ansara as Abu Sufyan, Johnny Sekka as Bilal, Michael Forest as Khalid and Garrick Hagon as Ammar.
The production, mounted across several countries, cost around 10 million dollars and returned roughly 15 million worldwide. On TMDB it holds a 7.1 rating from more than four hundred votes, indicating a generally favourable response from viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- Two versions of the film were released simultaneously: in Arabic, with Arab actors, and in English, with actors from the United Kingdom playing the main roles. The Arabic version premiered in 1976, and the English version a year later, although filming for both films took place concurrently.
- Mustafa Akkad received a rejection from Hollywood regarding filming the movie in Morocco.
- During the creation of the film, the director consulted with Islamic clerics and sought to be respectful of Islam and its views on the image of the Prophet Muhammad. He received approval from Al-Azhar in Egypt, but it was rejected by the World Muslim League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The governments of Kuwait, Libya, and Morocco promised financial support for the film, but when it was rejected by the World Muslim League, Kuwait withdrew its funding. The late King Hassan II of Morocco gave him full support for the production of the film. The production of The Message took one year. 6 months of filming took place in Morocco, but Akkad was forced to halt production when the Saudi Arabian government put significant pressure on Morocco. Akkad went to Libyan leader Gaddafi in search of support to complete the project. Gaddafi allowed him to complete the remaining 6 months of filming in Libya.
- Akkad saw the film as a way to bridge the gap between the Western and Islamic worlds, stating in a 1976 interview: “I made this film because it is personal to me. Besides its value as a film, it has its story, its intrigues, its dramas. Beyond all this, I think there is something personal in it, being a Muslim living in the West, I felt it was my duty to tell the truth about Islam. It is a religion that has 700 million followers, but so little is known about it, and that surprised me. I thought I should tell a story that would become a bridge across the gap with the West.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
