"Wicked 2," Guy Ritchie, Neil Burger Explore Beauty of Egypt

Egypt is a nation full of rich histories, culture, and must-see locations — a beauty that will soon be explored in three wildly different titles all set for release next year.

Jon M. Chu's “Wicked Part Two” and Guy Ritchie's “Fountain of Youth,” make use of the country’s historical riches and otherworldly expanses, while filmmaker Neil Burger channels the breakneck pace of modern Cairo with his gritty espionage thriller “Inheritance” — set for release on January 24.

The heavyweight titles herald a standout year for a still nascent commission founded in 2019. 

The Egypt Film Commission, a subsidiary of the Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC), now serves as a one-stop-shop and unique point of access for international projects in need of shooting permits and approvals, coordinating and liaising with state ministries while suggesting local service facilitators for all production needs.

Since 2019, the commission has assisted 55 international titles, with some even benefiting from a 30% cashback incentive for titles using EMPC premises and facilities.

In late 2023, the commission welcomed the cast and crew of “Wicked Part Two,” helping the Universal blockbuster recreate the Land of Oz over the course of a 10-day shoot in Egypt’s surreal White Desert National Park. 

Six months later, the commission turned the Giza Plateau into a high-verve playground for the Skydance and Apple-produced “Fountain of Youth.” Over the course of two weeks in July, the Great Pyramid and taciturn Sphinx shared their home with modern equipment and military helicopters lent out by the local Ministry of Defense for the first time.

“A friend of mine was on the Guy Richie project,” says Location Managers Guild International president John Rakich. “And they couldn’t stop talking about how seamless it was to shoot for two weeks in front of the pyramids. [They were orchestrating] gunfire, helicopters, all big stuff that usually doesn’t get done here.”

Rakich has now taken on an advisory role sharing institutional knowledge with the local commission to establish firmer footing within the global marketplace. 

The production vet was on hand at this year’s Cairo Film Festival to cram in as many sites as possible as part of a whirlwind locations tour.

“For the longest time, people were going to Morocco to shoot fake pyramids,” Rakich added. “Now, there’s a big push to get people to come back to Egypt. So we’re here to take a look, to see what’s around to and see how we can help.”

As part of his advisory duties, Rakich suggests a simple outreach campaign.

“This is the real Egypt,” he noted. “Productions can now can shoot antiquity with a friendly partner without having to go out and fake it. We’re not talking about moving a whole show here, but if you have to do a scene, you can come here. You don’t have to be ‘Transformers,’ and you don’t need a massive budget. You can still be medium size and shoot what’s real.”

“We’re joking about their ad campaign,” Rakich joked. “It should just be a picture of the pyramids under a tagline that says, ‘Yeah, we got this.’ I told them to play to their strengths. Hollywood will go if the right thing is there.”

For “Inheritance,” director Neil Burger needed something a bit more rough around the edges, befitting a paranoid thriller about a young woman gradually losing her tether over the course of a globetrotting tour.

“The film goes from New York to Cairo to New Delhi to Seoul,” he added. “I wanted to see the new normal in all these places… The idea was just to be on the street and to just let life flow around us, working with a guerrilla crew to give the film a very loose, caught-live feel.”

Shooting for two weeks all across Cairo felt like a fever dream for the New York-based director.

“[In terms of access] we got everything,” he beamed. “We shot in the market, we shot at the airport, we shot at the pyramids, we shot anywhere we wanted – even outside the U.S. Embassy. It all had this great immediacy and the real energy that goes with that.”

“I’m a New York booster,” he added with a grin. “But the truth is, Cairo is the real city that never sleeps. The energy was just crazy and so dynamic that I was just trying to capture that on film.”