King Mohammed VI helped Ridley Scott get heavy equipment for his 2001 combat film, Black Hawk Down, shot in Morocco. In a recent interview with the American magazine GQ, the English director and producer stressed the importance of the royal gesture which, without him, his film on the Battle of Mogadishu could not have been brought to the screen.
The film is an adaptation of a 1999 book by journalist Mark Bowden, who describes the real military engagement in Somalia in 1993. History follows an elite group of American army rangers, operators of operators The Delta Force and crews of helicopters deployed in Somalia. The 90 -minute operation takes a dramatic turn when fighters from the Somali militia slaughter two Black Hawk helicopters, trapping the soldiers behind enemy lines.
Ask a favor from the King of Morocco
Shot in Salé, near the Moroccan capital, the production of the film required heavy equipment, as the title of the film suggests – Black Hawk. Scott wanted to use real military equipment. To convince the American army, he asked for help from the Moroccan monarch, who helped him in his quest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPAX5RVLEW
Addressing the monarch concerning his filming dilemma, Scott said he needs to “bring four black hawks and four nights”. The first (UH-60 Black Hawk) are four-blade utility military helicopters, twin-engine and medium transport, manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft for the United States army. The latter are also heavy devices that operate mainly at night.
In addition to that, Scott had to bring “125 rangers”, which are elite infantry units or American special operations formed for rapid deployment and a wide range of combat missions. Why Rangers? Because, explains Scott, “they will be the insurance on the Black Hawk, and I cannot let my actors go down as a reminder, it must be a ranger because if someone falls, I will be in difficulty”.
The sovereign reassured Scott, saying that he can help him. “I'm going to do it, but you have to get Pentagon to write to me a note so that I welcome the American army and their devices,” said Scott, quoting King Mohammed VI.
“So he did this. He wrote this to the Pentagon. The Pentagon said, 'okay, we are going', “recalls the director. “So they sent four Black Hawks, four nights, and 2,505 rangers,” he recalls.
Black Hawks and American Rangers in Salé
The film was shot in Salé, on the “Côte des thieves where all the pirates were,” said Scott. During the shooting, which lasted for months, he “took control of the city”. “I said, 'we are going to be in all your streets'”, employing 1,500 people in the city every day for three to four months. They “loved it was fantastic,” he concluded.
It was not the first, or the last time, that Scott chose Morocco to shoot his emblematic films. A few years before Black Hawk Down, Scott shot his epic film Gladiator in Ouarzazate, the little Hollywood of Morocco, in 1999. He returned for Kingdom of Heaven in 2005, Body of Lies in 2008, and exodus: Gods and Kings in 2014 .
