Ridley Scott not to shoot $150 million budget film in Malta

There was a "high probability" that Ridley Scott's $150 million-budget film Tripoli will not be shot in Malta, Dr George Hyzler, Parliamentary Secretary in the Economics Services Ministry, said when contacted yesterday.

Meanwhile, sources close to the film industry confirmed that the film would not be shot in Malta as the production team felt it was not "cost-effective to come to Malta".

"I feel this gives Malta a good lesson and shows that even though it's a film with a budget of $150 million, they could still not afford to come to the island," the sources said.

In July it had been reported that Ridley Scott, one of Hollywood's top directors, had once again chosen Malta to shoot the big-budget film starring Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe.

The film would have reunited Scott, Crowe and executive producer Branko Lustig in Malta, where they had shot the Oscar-winning film Gladiator in 1999.

Ben Kingsley, who starred in Gandhi and Artificial Intelligence: AI was also lined up to star in the historical drama, set in 19th century North Africa.

"The reason that the film will not be shot on the island has nothing to do with Malta per se. Instead it has more to do with budgetary problems that the production team has faced," Dr Hyzler said.

"The parts which were going to be filmed in Malta are not going to be shot in another location after budgetary reconsiderations," he said.

Filming of the epic had been expected to start in Malta in May and run for about eight weeks, while the sets where scheduled to start being built this month.

The Grand Harbour had been earmarked to double as Tripoli and Tunisia, while Fort St Elmo would have doubled as Tunis.

The sources said that the script had now been revised to remove the scene of the Grand Harbour out of the film.

"This news comes as a blow to the industry," the sources said.

Filming had also been expected to take place in the open sea at Dwejra and Qbajjar in Gozo, the Grand Harbour breakwater and the sea beneath Fort Ricasoli.

The rest of the film would have been shot in Morocco for location purposes, since the film required a desert.