Written by new-contact on Mar 5, 2015. Posted in On Location

Michael Bay to film Benghazi drama 13 Hours in Morocco and Malta

Filmmaker Michael Bay is set to shoot the true-life rescue drama 13 Hours on location in Morocco and Malta. Set in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the film will tell the story of the 2012 terror attack on the city’s US compound and the Special Forces mission to rescue the staff.

Actors John Krasinski and David Denman, both veterans of the US version of comedy series The Office, are among the stars, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Morocco is the top international filming location for desert landscapes and is coming off a strong 2014 that saw a five-fold increase in foreign shoots. Tom Cruise was one of the highest-profile visitors with Mission: Impossible 5.

Malta is also a popular double for Middle Eastern locations and in recent years has doubled for Israel in Brad Pitt’s zombie drama World War Z (above), and for the Indian Ocean in Tom Hanks’ modern piracy thriller Captain Phillips. In the coming months Malta will stand in for ancient Middle Eastern locations in The Dovekeepers and Clavius.

"We have had an increased number of enquiries for Malta to be used as a setting for Israel particularly when it comes to biblical films,” Maltese film commissioner Engelbert Grech told The Location Guide recently.

“It has been noted how Malta is becoming a ‘go-to’ location to stand in for Israel, with many location managers citing previous productions such as Munich and World War Z as examples of Malta’s capability of offering both rural Middle-Eastern backdrops and developed Middle-Eastern cityscapes.”

The massive box-office success of war dramas Lone Survivor and American Sniper has led to greater interest in true stories from the Iraq and Afghan wars. Separate sniper story The Reaper was announced for a TV adaptation only a few weeks after American Sniper became a huge hit.

Morocco and Malta are likely to continue benefitting, as two of the only parts of the world that offer desert landscapes, cheaper production costs and extensive filming infrastructure.

Report: Tom Hanks films piracy drama Captain Phillips in Malta and Virginia

(Image: Malta Film Commission)