4.4 DVD Commentary

[lwhite53]

Info from 4.4 DVD commentary [Alrick Riley, Katie Swindon]:

-Ep shot on location in Turkey for 4 days.

-Opening scene with asset killed in Instanbul was actually shot in an alley near Brick Lane in East London -- made into Turkish set.

-Ep written by Howard Brenton -- wanted to write a story about asylum seekers and how they got into the UK. Couldn't use precisely that idea because virtually impossible to shoot the route through different countries -- budget buster.

-Nicola Walker the only one who could corectly say the Prince's full name.

-Politically sensitive ep -- fictional country, loosely based on Saudi Arabia and Saudi royal family. The ep basically says one of the Saudi royals is supporting an Al Qaeda network -- not based on anything real. Also intimating that the princes are susceptible to women and alcohol -- very problematic idea given that they're Muslims.

-Malcolm and Colin off the grid -- geat scene bugging the hotel room. Controversial idea that British secret services might have been bugging Bill Clinton.

-Adam and Fiona a very convincing couple.

-Caroline (the honey trap) is a prostitute used by MI5.

-Prince's hotel was really Stoke Park -- used a lot as a film location. Convincing as a central London location.

-PF in his element as Harry, manipulating Prince with photos -- completely confident, totally articulate, 100% believable.

-When touching on issues of terrorism and religious differences, very important to show both sides of the issue without intimating what's right or wrong. Explore issues and let audience decide for themselves.

-Story is all about Yazdi, but until 19 minutes into ep, we've only seen him for one moment (in the alleyway). He's turned into an almost mythical character. When we finally meet him, the moment resonates.

-Adam as a Circassian -- a lot of discussion about whether it would be believable. RPJ had to learn a lot of Arabic.

-Khalid Abdalla (Yazdi) a very strong actor -- his eyes are tremendously expressive and emotive.

-Favorite scene -- Adam and Yazdi shut in crate together. Easy to go over the top in this kind of scene but both were so focused that it was extraordinary. Two equals in intellect and strength -- only their backgrounds and birth countries make them different. Both actors were mesmerizing.

-Ep got dinged on one point -- a Muslim would not drink water from the same bottle as a non-Muslim.

-Border checkpoint was actually shot in Chertsey.

-Death of old man in truck -- research showed that many asylum seekers die on the journey; wanted to acknowledge that reality.

-Very different type of ep -- whole thing built around the psychological turning of one man.

-Continuity issue in scene between Adam and Yazdi in forest -- leaf on right side of Adam's collar kept appearing and disappearing.

-Yazdi -- character written with great complexity and intelligence. You don't really know where his head is. "I believe in the house of Islam . . ." -- very important speech for this character who has to make a Faustian decision. Adam totally taken in.

-Fiona -- worried that Adam loves the thrill of danger as much as Yazdi.

-Khalid Abdalla -- very worried about playing a terrorist.

-HB's dialogue -- very well written and very measured. Actors love doing his scripts -- perfectly plausible storylines.

-Filming scene where armed forces apprehended Hadrami caused havoc in the area because it looked so real -- people stopped on the streets.

-Yazdi and Hadrami together -- you're still not sure what's going on. Yazdi's character has been so well set up that he's an enigma. Scene is all about mind games -- who's in control, who's telling who what, who's being fooled.

-MI5's arrogance is believing that their enemies can never double bluff them. Everyone's trying to second guess Yazdi and they all disagree with each other. No one really has a handle on what's happening and it all goes totally wrong when Juliet overrules Harry -- she believes she knows what Yazdi's thinking.

-Harry finally realizes what's going on, but just a bit too late.

-Power of the media -- fed a false story about the Prince's death but it must be true because it's on tv.

-Yazdi's bottom line -- if you don't believe as I do, you're my enemy. HB shows that the secret services don't really get that idea, don't really understand where that hard kind of self-belief comes from. They find it unfathomable, hence they couldn't predict his behavior.

[Tea Lady]

Thanks again lwhite53 for this. I do wonder why they needed 4 days in Turkey though. It didn't feature that much in the episode. I also wondered about the old man in the truck. Would the lorry driver in reality have taken someone so elderly and sick? Perhaps if you pay enough, they would take anyone. A very sad business. Clearly these people just wanted a better life and meant no harm.

[Aria]

Thanks for posting lwhite53. After reading the commentaries I have no more delusions on the grandeur of filming episodic tv shows

[Kazters]

dont envy rpj learning arabic

[Nia M]

He can't have had very long to learn it in...

Interesting that NW was the only one who could pronounce Yadzi's name

Thanks again lwhite53 for posting!

[lwhite53]

(27-06-2010 09:39 PM)Nia M Wrote:  Interesting that NW was the only one who could pronounce Yadzi's name

Not Yazdi, the Prince.

[deathbymascara]

Thanks for posting!
I was wondering why they'd need for days in Turkey??? Even more so if the alley scene was shot nr Brick Lane haha.

I am so going rewatch to see if I can spot the continuity error in the forest, the inner geek in me loves stuff like that

[lwhite53]

There was some talk of Alrick Riley being AWOL during filming for awhile, so maybe he decided he needed a short break and Turkey was the best he could do. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but I guess you take what you can get.

[Nia M]

(27-06-2010 10:28 PM)lwhite53 Wrote:  

(27-06-2010 09:39 PM)Nia M Wrote:  Interesting that NW was the only one who could pronounce Yadzi's name

Not Yazdi, the Prince.

Whoops, I meant that