The Saint Remake

Found this article in Gulf News:

Hollywood hits to be made in Dubai

By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Two Hollywood executives have announced plans to set up a cutting-edge $200 million (Dh735.6 million) film studio in Dubai.
The big screen executives hope blockbusters will regularly be filmed in Dubai following the opening of Mirage Studios.

Visual effects specialists Michelle and Carl Nickelson also want to remake the television series The Saint in Dubai.

The father-and-daughter pair worked at California-based Manex Entertainment, which won two Oscars for visual effects in films What Dreams May Come and The Matrix.

The company also created effects for Hollywood hits such as American Beauty, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Bless the Child.

Carl and Michelle have now formed Nickelson Entertainment Group (NEG), which wants to build a 170-acre studio in Dubailand where big-budget movies would be made.

The company has secured $200 million of backing from UAE and United States-based investors to set up the studio, which will initially be a visual effects centre before branching out into film production.

Dubai's film-friendly landscape and modest wages compared to the United States attracted the firm to the UAE. As many as 600 people could work at the 170-acre studio once it is up and running.

"It brings a whole new industry to Dubai. Ultimately we would work to establish Dubai as Hollywood of the Middle East," said Michelle, president and chief operating officer of NEG.

"To be successful, you need to have people with Hollywood experience set up here rather than trying to start from scratch," she added.

Construction for the studio which would have the world's largest sound stage at 100,000 square feet, is set to start in March next year and will take up to a year and a half.

Soon after construction starts at Dubailand, which is behind Emirates Road, the studio plans to recruit people from the UAE and other GCC states to train them in visual effects.

"It's cheaper to produce visual effects here. Creating them is very expensive, it's labour intensive so it's better to do it outside the United States," said Michelle, a former senior executive at Manex Entertainment, in which her father, Carl, was also a partner.

"It should help to build a whole film industry here because we'll be bringing producers, directors and film stars here.

"They will get used to coming here to do film production. We want to do television shows and commercials as well as films.

"Dubai is generic enough for us to be able to film here. If you film in Singapore, it looks too oriental.

"If you drive down Shaikh Zayed Road and film high-rise buildings, you could be anywhere. If you are on the beach, you could be in the south of France," she said.

Michelle said Mirage's visual effects training programme for GCC residents would be to US standards.

Training will be free of charge before the studio opens so a ready-made workforce will be available for the start of operations, she said.

"We want as many GCC people working here as possible, which creates jobs and keeps money in the UAE. The kids here are so excited to get into the film industry.

"We would bring our Academy Award-winning team to train students and our proposals have been very warmly welcomed by the universities in the UAE.

"The Dubai International Film Festival was a great start but we want people to come here to work in film production," she said.

The plans to film television series The Saint, which was originally made with James Bond star Roger Moore, are being developed with Hollywood film-maker Bill MacDonald. He produced the 1997 big-screen remake of The Saint that starred Val Kilmer.

"The Saint, Simon Templar, would be based in a villa in Dubai, which would be identified in the programme," said Michelle.

"Each week, the world would see Dubai displayed and many local people could be involved as well. It would be an interesting thing for the UAE and it would jump-start the film industry here," she said.