THE COUNT IN MALTA

The filming of The Count of Monte Cristo in Malta was quite coincidental. Film producers have funny ways of discovering Malta and almost never through adverts, fairs or mail shots. It mainly happens through word of mouth, from crew members who have worked here previously. Their experiences, good or bad, have an echoing effect in the film circle abroad, especially the bad experiences. And this circle is much smaller than most people think.

When a producer is interested enough to fly over, there is the challenge of finding the right locations and making it financially feasible. However, there is equally the task of making sure that nothing and nobody deters him from the island. These are the first responsibilities of us locals who get involved with such visits.

Back to The Count of Monte Cristo, one person instrumental in securing the interest of the producers was Terry Pritchard, the supervising art director. He had previously worked in Malta back in 1991 on Christopher Colombus – The Discovery.

‘We're looking for a port like Marseilles' he explained in his first phone call to the film's eventual production manager for Malta Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante. A small discussion to refresh his memory on Vittoriosa wharf was enough for him to fly over 24 hours later. And that was the start of it all.

At this stage ‘The Count of Monte Cristo' was already in early preparations with massive sets early in construction in Ireland's Ardmore Studios.

Based on Alexander Dumas' classic tale, one of the film's challenging tasks was to transport its audience two hundred years back to historic locations in Marseilles and Rome. The real port of Marseilles as it stands now was not deemed suitable for filming. Moreover, the Chateau D'If building where the lead character is thrown into prison was not considered dramatic enough for cinema. So the search was now on around Europe and the Mediterranean for these locations.

Dockyard Creek, lined by Senglea and Birgu on opposite sides, is one of the most popular filming locations in Malta. Its unique asset is its panoramic view of around 300 degrees which conforms excellently to any period movie. Production Designer Mark Geraghty was quick to fall in love with this location and this was immediately approved by director Kevin Reynolds (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves).

An artist impression of Birgu wharf converted into Marseilles harbour

It had taken several weeks of reconnaissance visits (what are called ‘recces') and meetings both in Malta and Ireland in order to determine exactly what can in fact be shot in the Maltese islands.

Gradually more locations where found and eventually the shooting schedule for Malta was increased from one week to over a month. A challenging task ahead was to produce a movie which looked like eighty million dollars but which in fact had less than half that amount in its budget.

In total some 150 locals were employed and preparation works seemed endless. Besides constructing various sets on several locations, public roads had to be covered in truckloads of soil, telephone wires had to be concealed and electricity cables temporarily removed in a short-term clean-up of parts of various villages and cities. Modern fishing boats were displaced and two ancient ships were sailed into Malta to lock in the period scenery.

Every picture has its challenges, and this was certainly no exception. Fortunately many were those who cooperated very willingly. We will always be grateful to the national airline for sending one of its Boeing aircrafts to Dublin with just two hours notice in order to urgently retrieve our filming equipment which was so vital for our shoot. Also the national ferry-boat company was extremely helpful in transporting over 35 trucks and jeeps onto the island of Comino, even though bad seas later forced our vehicles to be stranded on the island for two weeks. We literally had to have all our equipment hand-carried in one evening of terrifying gale force winds and using small fishing boats. Our schedule simply had to be kept and no bad weather was going to stop us.

We eventually filmed in several locations on the three islands. These included Dwejra in Gozo, Valletta, Mdina and the Grand Harbour. Many of the character houses were in fact real houses in Mdina, the Palazzo Parisio and the President's Palace. We built large Turkish baths at MFS and caves around Comino became the secret location in which Edmond finds his treasure. And for a few days we even turned the Comino Tower into the notorious Chateau D'If.

The shooting crew filming the end-scene on the island of Comino

Jim Caviezel who plays The Count flanked by his co-stars (left to right) Henry Cavill, Dagmara Dominczyk and Luis Guzman.

Often one wonders about Malta's reputation in the film industry abroad. While all went very well with The Count, Malta's reputation generally is not one to be proud of. This is not being negative but simply calling a spade a spade. Although the film-related infrastructure on the island has today changed somewhat for the better and there are serious improvements in various respects, producers do not easily let go of their prejudices. 

During one particular meeting in Ireland's Ardmore Studios, where the production was based, checks about Malta had revealed some very nasty but true experiences during the production of Cutthroat island six years earlier. Both the studios at Kalkara and the island were badly tainted by a ‘ripping off' mentality. The day-light robbery in those days was so much more rampant and significant. Present in the meeting was our Maltese production manager who persuaded them not to compare Malta to six years earlier, but any positive thinking was soon overcome by a separate discussion on the agenda: that of whether the production would be able to film in an empty government building in Malta which was being priced at eight times the usual hire cost in most other European countries. Might I mention here that some countries do not even charge for government property. This is an added bonus besides other attractive film incentives offered. The ones we keep talking about but never actually put in place.

The government-appointed person in charge of this particular location had been overheard saying in Maltese: ‘These guys have money. If they want to they will pay!” Whilst this particular government building would have remained unaffordable for us six years earlier, fortunately in that year (2000) we had a film commission and a parlimentary secretary responsible for the film industry. They were quick to react and talk some sense into the person responsible. They were instrumental in solving this issue and a few others which unfortunately came down the line during our preparation.

The Count's crew rigging a camera onto an Army helicopter.  In some countries Army services are offered at bare cost in line with government policies to attract film productions

The Producer's Creative Partnership (PCP) always maintained that the setting up of a film commission is in principle the greatest thing this government has done for the film industry. Actually the first important thing was listing the film industry specifically under the umbrella of duties of one of its parliamentary secretaries. The only tragedy is that some key politicians, with the exception of Dr. George Hyzler, do not seem to recognize the potential of the film industry. They obviously simply do not understand it enough. One guess is that they are so overwhelmed by rumours of the inflated millions currently entering the local economy from the film industry that they find the implementation of tax incentives not at all necessary or urgent. The production of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo' received a rebate from the Irish government in the six-digit range. But it injected well over ten times that amount into the Irish economy. So the Irish government gave up less than 10% of its earnings, which is far less than its average bracket on income tax. It was willing to give up something small with the security of  much greater awards.  There was nothing to lose. This is one reason why the same producers did not hesitate to start another production in Ireland before shooting of The Count was even completed. Of course there are artistic reasons too, but finances play an important part in today's decision making. The monies spent in Malta by this production were only a fraction of the medium-sized budget.

With the correct formula of tax incentives offered to film producers, the amount of films shooting on this island can easily double. With minimal optimism it can also triple within the short term.  More Maltese would have ongoing work and the local support crew would become stronger and larger. Local service providers will also dare to expand and invest, thus improving the local infrastructure for a more serious servicing film industry. Furthermore, it is only by means of a properly managed film fund which initiates co-productions with foreign producers, and which also conditions certain films to be shot in Malta, that a producing film industry can be created here.

Video about the Making of "The Count of Monte Cristo"