Spielberg leaves Malta...without giving the press a word

Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg left Malta in a wave of controversy on Friday night after filming parts of his latest film here for two months. Several promises of an 'exclusive' interview with The Sunday Times were broken as the production left without so much as a "Thank you for having us".

The film, under the working title Munich, tackles the reactionary events that occurred after the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre, and is critical of Mossad, the Israeli secret service - so Spielberg knows he's going to be heavily criticised.

For the filming, Malta was disguised as Israel, a cheaper and safer location, and the island bent over backwards to accommodate the director and his crew.

The heightened security, which verged on paranoia, seemed to be justified after a Lm55,000 truck imported from Germany for the shooting, and its cargo of hi-tech equipment, was destroyed in a mysterious explosion last month.

The driver said he heard a bang and fled as soon as he realised the truck had caught fire. The police said explosions happen when heat causes generators to overload but many, including L-Orrizont who were the first to report on the story, hinted at foul play and a terrorist attack.

And with Spielberg - arguably Hollywood's most powerful director - being Jewish, the Israeli-Palestinian situation must be something he has strong opinions on. A terrorist attack in Malta - where Mossad gunned down a former Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shqaqi on the Sliema promenade in 1995 - is a real possibility.

Because of events in the Middle East, Spielberg could well have been justified to not face the press. Controlled interviews were given to the international media - until one of his crew spilt the storyline beans to the Israeli press. Spielberg was rumoured to have faced a barrage of questions from the Israeli government.

So when I had requested an interview with the director, his publicist asked about my background and found out that I had spent some time writing in Israel at the time of Yasser Arafat's death.

She asked for copies of my articles to read and show Spielberg, which I believe were fairly neutral, politically. After the story spillage, the truck fire and what the publicist called her "displeasure" at unofficial shots and stories in the local newspapers, which revealed Malta production budget figures, the interview didn't happen.

But don't they realise it was just well-meaning photographers and journalists - not as trusting as I - who were just doing their job? One such snapper is Mark Cassar, who managed to get some of the best shots, even though he, like many others weren't allowed on set.

Surely it would have been easier to have held a press conference and been in control of which questions were answered and then disallow any further stories?

I don't know Spielberg's opinion on the Gaza pull-out or any other political issue. Yet he (or rather his publicist) jumped to conclusions that if I were to interview him I would only question him on the matter. What I do know is that he was so nervous about his film's content he did take script advice from former US President Bill Clinton, and his rabbi.

The film's storyline follows a secret service hit squad sent by Golda Meir to hunt down the Palestinian terrorists who massacred 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. They eventually kill 10 terrorists - but one of the suspects they shoot dead in Norway actually turned out to be an innocent Moroccan waiter.

One of the main actors, British heartthrob Daniel Craig (Layer Cake, Enduring Love, The Jacket) told Empire magazine that the film will be expected to depict the agents as having misgivings about their mission and is likely to be critical of Israel's actions and how vengeance doesn't work, "blood breeds blood", he was quoted as saying.

The other main actor is Eric Bana (Chopper, Hulk, Black Hawk Down), a down-to-earth Australian actor who had spent time in Malta filming Troy in 2003. He was more than happy to give interviews when he was last in Malta but this time he was unreachable. If there was no time in the filming itinerary, they should have made time like the Troy cast and crew did...

But now, the cast and crew have moved to Hungary without even giving one 'official' interview. In fact, with Malta heavily disguised as another country in the film, audiences will never know the production was here at all...

So, thanks for nothing Mr Spielberg. You seemed paranoid and a prima donna, and maybe you are proud of Israel, your religious homeland, but so are we Maltese of our country. The next time you 'borrow' our island as a film set, grant us the pleasure of doing our job and give us just one story please!

(To view more photos visit www.markcassar.com )