Caught this briefly on CNN: Andy Garcia is in Tbilisi this week, playing President Saakashvili in Renny Harlin’s “anti-war” movie Georgia.
This story from the UK Independent sites “fears that it could be a vehicle for the Georgian government’s version of events,” a view it says is reinforced by the fact that the government has put public buildings and military units at the disposal of the film-makers. Actually, the Georgian National Film Center has made great progress in getting the government to understand the need for film-friendliness. In fact, I like to think that one of the last meetings the former Minister of Defence held before the attempted mutiny back in May was with us, where he agreed in principle to a Military Film Liaison office. It’s our hard work (ok, as well as maybe, a leetle bit of propaganda….) Anyway, I’m actually I’m pretty pleased with the outcome:
The crowd, mainly made up of families and young people, dutifully cheered on cue, and looked on with amazement at the way the centre of their city had been turned into a massive movie set. With a budget of some $32m (£19m), this is the biggest film ever produced in Georgia, and many had come just to watch the spectacle.