Osama bin Laden and Morocco’s other unsung screen stars wait for next Hollywood payday
A location of choice for blockbuster directors, the desert town of Ouarzazate is home to Hollywood veterans untarnished by the glitz – and fat pay cheques – of Tinseltown. But computer special effects threaten their livelihood
It’s mid-morning when Osama bin Laden finally leaves his dark, one-room home. Dressed as usual in a white robe, military jacket and white cap, he crosses the courtyard, leaving a few grains for the birds, before exiting his crumbling, mud-and-straw compound.
“My dream would be to live and fly just like them,” he says, a broad smile lighting up his calm, wrinkled face. “At my age, there’s not much I can demand from this world.”
His salt-and-pepper beard attracts so much attention from friends, acquaintances and curious tourists that it takes him a full 10 minutes to reach the cigarette shop he runs nearby. Here, hung along the walls of this minuscule space, are some of the man’s dearest memories.
“This is me playing in The Ten Commandments, with Omar Sharif. Here I was reciting in Prince of Persia, this is Prison Break ...” he says, with ill-concealed pride.
