Rabat – A new trailer and the official poster of the thriller production “The Forgiven,” set in Morocco, was released on Thursday. The film will be in theaters starting from July 1st.
Directed by John Michael McDonagh, “The Forgiven” narrates the story of a wealthy couple from London, David and Jo Henninger, who visit Morocco to attend a friend’s wedding. Driving through the Sahara, David fatally hits a passing pedestrian whom they carry to their friend’s house instead of reporting his death.
Quickly the boy’s family comes to ask for their son’s body and justice. Faced with the consequences of their crime, the British couple try to cover up their crime.
Ralph Fiennes (David) and Jessica Chastain (Jo) play the main leads in the movie along with Matt Smith, Abbey Lee, and Caleb Landry Jones.
Moroccan actors Said Taghmaoui, Mourad Zaoui, and Ismael Kanater also star in the film.
The Forgiven made its world premiere at TIFF 2021 and will make its US premiere at the Tribeca film festival this June in New York.
Based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel, the film adaptation was done by John Michael McDonagh and his brother Martin.
Considering the film a “cinematic adventure,” the director expressed his satisfaction with the outcome.
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“Performances, cinematography, production design, costume design, editing, sound, score, and the wonderful Moroccan locations all combined to create what I hope will be a unique theatrical experience for audiences worldwide, overwhelmed as they are by superheroes on jungle cruises,” he explained.
Recalling McDonagh’s earlier features, Variety film critic Peter Debruge said that the director is known for his “reckoning… movies and plays where atonement is meted out in a blunt and bloody fashion, often with darkly comic undertones.”
Morocco has long attracted different directors driven by a sense of adventure and admiration of the country’s landscapes.
Morocco has hosted the production of renowned and classic films and series since the early 20th century starting from the filming of “Mektoub” in Tangier in 1919, to the latest filming of the second season of “The Wheel of Time” in Ouarzazate and Essaouira.
Over the past decades, Morocco has become a leading film-shooting destination for cinema and television including “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), “The Mummy” (1999), “Gladiator” (2000), and “Games of Thrones” (2011-2019).
Such productions have supported the livelihood of Moroccan actors and non-actors who work as extras. Ouarzazate became a hub for global film production as it hosted major blockbuster movies.
