The Kingdom
Short description
The Kingdom follows an FBI team sent to Saudi Arabia after a bomb attack kills Americans at a housing compound in Riyadh. Ronald Fleury, an agent, negotiates a short window to travel there with a forensic specialist, a explosives expert and an analyst. Once on the ground, the Americans find that Saudi authorities intend to run the case themselves, and that their usual methods do not work in an unfamiliar setting. A local police officer becomes their main partner as they try to identify those behind the bombing, and the investigators themselves become targets.
Peter Berg directed the film, the fourth of thirteen he has directed in chronological order, arriving between Friday Night Lights and Hancock. Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the screenplay, and Michael Mann was among the producers. Jamie Foxx plays Fleury, with Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman as his teammates, and Ali Suliman as the Saudi sergeant. Jeremy Piven also appears. The production, mounted by Universal Pictures with Relativity Media and other partners, cost about 70 million dollars and returned roughly 87 million worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds 7 out of 10 from more than 131,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.7 out of 10 from a much smaller electorate. A critics' rating of 5.8 out of 10 from 188 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The luxurious "Palace Hotel" in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, served as the location for Prince Ahmed Ben Khaled's palace.
- The film was originally planned to be shot on location in Saudi Arabia, but this idea had to be abandoned for political reasons and logistical difficulties. Instead, production designer Tom Duffield and his staff recreated the necessary setting in Arizona, relying on internet photos and images taken by director Peter Berg during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
- The biggest difficulty during filming was that it took place in 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) heat.
- In one of the early script drafts, it was proposed that the character played by Ali Suliman be tortured by his own people on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist attack. It was also intended that the character played by Ashraf Barhom would survive. Instead, viewers see Suliman's character saying goodbye to FBI agents at an airbase with an explosive device hidden under his clothes. The character played by Chris Cooper leads him away from the others, and he detonates the bomb.
- Robert De Niro was initially considered for the role of FBI Director Jayce Grays.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
