Renowned ‘Hotel Rwanda’ director and award-winning screenwriter, Terry George is set to shoot ‘Riverman’, an action film inspired by events in Afghanistan at Saudi Arabia’s NEOM. The film will be shot in two locations, with one being the epic landscape of the Kingdom’s $500 billion mega project and the other being the UK.
This is a continued step towards establishing NEOM as a film-making hub; as just last year, NEOM announced that it will open the NEOM Media Village and Bajdah Desert Studios which will include sound stages and film production support facilities. Over recent years, NEOM has been able to make a name for itself as a production hub by supporting the production of critically acclaimed titles including Rupert Wyatt’s “Desert Warrior,” “Million Dollar Island,” and “Rise of The Witches.”
When it comes to the film itself, ‘Riverman’ recalls the story of Max, a Royal Marine who gets caught up in the corruption of warfare. A lot of the film is inspired by true events that occurred during the Afghanistan war from 2001 to 2008; “‘Riverman’ is a powerful, highly dramatic war story,” explained George who also expressed excitement overshooting the Hollywood film in NEOM.
So far, casting began and the team will start shooting the anticipated action project in Jan. 2024.