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sahara
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Adapted from one of bestselling author Clive Cussler’s most successful ‘Dirk Pitt adventures’, Sahara is the kind of movie they keep telling you no one makes any more. It is a witty, romantic, heart-in-the-right place action-adventure set in an exotic location (the title should give you a clue as to which one), involving a secret treasure dating back to the American Civil War. And that, in turn, may also hold the key to a much more modern - and much more dangerous - secret.
“There’s this mystery that’s been going on for 150 years – what happened to a missing Ironclad battleship – and Dirk’s determined to get to the bottom of it,” says director Breck Eisner, who makes his feature debut with Sahara after winning acclaim for the Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries Taken. “That’s where the story starts; and it ends up thousands of miles away, in the middle of the Sahara desert. It’s an action-adventure movie in the spirit of the great serials and action films that came before it.”
MATTHEW
MCCONAUGHEY,
STEVE ZAHN AND
PENELOPE CRUZ
STAR IN SAHARA,
THE ULTIMATE
DESERT ACTIONADVENTURE.
MAX
LEVANT REPORTS.
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You could call Sahara a buddy movie, too, except that it’s about a trio rather than a couple. There are the two old friends, Dirk Pitt - a recurrent character in Cussler’s novels, played here by Matthew McConaughey; and his lifelong friend, Al (Steve Zahn). They are members of NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency, whose job, not surprisingly, is to tackle problems and find things lost underwater - like a Civil War battleship which may contain a hidden treasure. Improbably (at first), their search takes them to Africa, where they meet up with a Spanish scientist, Dr Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), who will quickly become the third member of the group. She is looking for something, too. But her quest concerns a different kind of enigma which may threaten the future of the planet.
“I’ve read many screenplays where the male characters are much more interesting than the female characters,” says the Spanish actress, who these days divides her career between the US and Europe. “That’s not the case here. Eva has so many layers and colours; she’s an integral part of the story. What she has to say is important. And what she discovers is important.
“I like her personality a lot,” adds Cruz. “She’s up for just as much adventure as the boys. She’s a very, very fun character, completely different from anything I’ve ever done before.”
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