Red Sea Film Festival: ‘Desert Warrior’ Stars on Pioneering Hollywood-Style Production and Bringing Saudi Epic to Its Home Crowd

In 2021, Sharlto Copley (“District 9,” “The Witcher”) and Aiysha Hart (“Mogul Mowgli,” “Colette”) spent five months in a scenic desert area near the site of the futuristic city of NEOM to shoot Saudi Arabia’s first Hollywood-style tentpole movie, “Desert Warrior.”

Almost five years later it is now finally launching in the Middle East from the Red Sea Film Festival.

The big-budget epic, directed by British filmmaker Rupert Wyatt (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), is set in 7th-century Arabia and revolves around a princess (Hart) who refuses to serve as concubine to the ruthless emperor Kisra, played by Ben Kingsley, prompting an epic showdown called the Battle of Ze Qar. Copley plays the ruthless mercenary commander Jalabzeen tasked by the emperor with hunting down the proto-feminist princess and her father as they flee into the vast Arabian desert.

The reactions from the home crowd at the “Desert Warrior” premiere were warm and “really vocal” said Hart, speaking at the Variety Lounge presented by Red Sea Film Festival.

“It’s nice to show it to an audience that understands the culture,” added Hart, who has dual British-Saudi heritage. She pointed out that the film’s story is very well-known “in this part of the world.” “So I think there was a deeper understanding and an appreciation that was really lovely to be a part of.”

For Copley, being in “Desert Warrior” meant witnessing a real statement of intent from the Saudi industry. Though he did not really the feel the pressure of that, “you could definitely feel it on the production, on the director, on Rupert, on the producer and the studio trying to handle the beast of the first big film shot in the region,” he said.

“They flew in what was a 550-something crew and 250 drove in from surrounding region, because there was no industry, so you could feel it making the movie. You could feel just the practical weight of trying to create an industry where they were, there isn’t one,” he added.

“We had 38 nations represented on the crew, which was just wild,” Copley noted. “It was definitely the most languages that I’ve ever come across on a film .”

Shooting in the desert clearly had its drawbacks and rewards.

“I think for me getting into the character was more a physical thing,” said Hart. “We actually started shooting around August or September, so it was still very, very hot.”

“And, you know, we had quite heavy costumes on, with lots of layers. That’s when you realise the use of sweat. Why the body sweats. Because you sweat and then some wind comes along, and you’re like: “Oh,
that’s pleasant!”