From the director of Taken, the ambush is a relentlessly intense action movie based on a true story. When their armored vehicle is attacked by heavy enemy gunfire and becomes trapped in a remote canyon, three United Arab Emirates soldiers desperately wait for rescue. When troops arrive to help, they too are ambushed. Their last hope is a daring rescue mission planned by their brave commander. the ambush has become the most profitable Emirati and Arabic language film ever in UAE after posting massive opening weekend relative to the market. And rightly so: the film is artfully portrayed and is exciting from start to finish, distinguishing itself from the many other war films out there.
We recently spoke with the acclaimed director of the new film, Pierre Moreliwho talked about the production process and his other projects in the making.
Shooting a war movie in a foreign language
MW: What attracted you to the project, back to square one?
Pierre Morel: It’s twofold. One is that we’ve seen a lot of movies, American movies made about the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan of course, usually involving US troops because that’s where we were. Yet nothing has been done about Yemen, I think, and very little from an Arab perspective either. And I was interested in showing that we have the same values applying them in the same way, but seen from a different angle. And I think that was interesting, also to make it in Arabic because unfortunately I don’t speak Arabic. And there was another thing that I found interesting, because I haven’t seen many major war movies that are actually in the Arabic language. So those three elements were what drove me and also beyond just the war movie, I think it’s a universal story of people being trapped. So it is more about brotherhood than about war.
MW: Yeah, and that scene at the end when they carefully remove the body bag from the vehicle. That was such a powerful scene. What was it like filming such emotionally charged scenes like that?
Pierre Morel: It was very emotionally charged for the actors. That was of course the intention for us. Again, war is a terrible thing, and the losses are always cruel. But it was also very emotional for the actors because we only had Emirati actors. And the Emirates is a populated country of 10 million, but only 1 million is in the Emirates. It is a huge melting pot of many people. So if a country with that type of population is at war, somehow every Emirati family had someone who was on the field — and lost someone. And most guys of that generation even did one or two rounds in Yemen. So they were all very, very personally touched by the story. And yes, that scene you mentioned about eventually bringing the dead soldier back in his body bag was very, very difficult for them.
Set locations and inspiration
MW: Those scenes in the movie where they’re trapped in the armored vehicle are limited and intimate. Was it challenging to shoot those claustrophobic scenes?
Pierre Morel: It is challenging. We shot in different environments. And we actually spent most of the shooting, as you can imagine, in that chasm. It was extremely hot. I mean, it’s always hot. But what actually made it interesting – getting those vehicles is actually a nightmare because it’s so armored. I mean, the door barely opened. It is extremely difficult to access. So we had to make replicas of it to capture some scenes, as you can imagine, otherwise cameras wouldn’t fit. But there was something magical about entering that limited space, and there is no room for anyone. It does bring something right away. It’s just like [the film] Fury. It’s like being in the tank. There is no escape. I think it’s a grueling experience to be stuck in something like that with no chance to get out and just hope the shell will hold because at some point it won’t.
MW: You mentioned Fury. Were there any other war films in particular that inspired you in making this film?
Pierre Morel: I think what immediately comes to mind is probably, on a very different scale of course, Black Hawk Down. It’s about getting guys back behind enemy lines, so yeah, a few of these movies inspired us I guess.
MW: Did you shoot in Yemen at all?
Pierre Morel: No, we didn’t shoot in Yemen. It’s almost impossible to shoot there. The situation in Yemen has not yet been clarified. It’s a terrible situation, and the Yemeni society is so complicated, the clashes between different factions, different religious factions. But we actually shot in the United Arab Emirates. We didn’t shoot in Abu Dhabi, we shot in the eastern part of it, where there were really no dunes, just mountains in the rocky terrain like that. And it was very, very, very similar. We had military advisers from the Emirati army and it was exactly the same kind of landscape they were dealing with.
Taken and future projects
MW: I loved your movie Taken. Would you like to work with Liam Neeson again?
Pierre Morel: I would like to. We didn’t get the chance, but yes, soon. I have to find something else. I never made the sequels of my own movies. It feels like you are walking the same paths. So I don’t think I’ll do another one Taken. I didn’t do the other two Tasks [films] therefore, because I didn’t want to. I didn’t know how to reproduce the same emotional connection. But if I find anything to do with Liam, yes. I’ll do it right away, of course.
MW: And do you want to share about other projects you’re currently working on that will be released later?
Pierre Morel: Naturally. At the moment I am shooting in Croatia. We just started shooting a movie called canary black with Kate Beckinsale. And in between the ambush and this, I was in Colombia with John Cena where we shot another movie called freelancerwhich is in post production.