Hollywood Finds a New Set In Vast Desert of Namibia

Namibia began attracting productions in the mid-1990s, when a German television show filmed a ship-borne love story in Swakopmund, a coastal tourist town once central to Germany's colonial holdings in southwestern Africa. German architecture, language and culture still survive there, fueling Namibia's popularity as a place to film television shows and movies for European viewers.

A German hip-hop band filmed a video in the dunes of the Namib, as did singer Seal, said Guy Nockels of Namib Film, a production service company based there.

Reality television has found Namibia as well. A British game show challenged contestants to build a device capable of flying an egg, unbroken, across southern Namibia's vast Fish River Canyon (none succeeded). A German production, meanwhile, moved a family to a traditional Namibian village to see if its members could survive.

Although the name of that show, "Like the Savages," caused a backlash in Namibia, the industry is generally embraced here as a source of jobs, however temporary, in a country with a serious shortage of them. Film and television productions often import most actors and technicians, but they also hire Namibians as drivers and for unskilled crew jobs.

"The film industry helps this town tremendously, because the unemployed suddenly have some money in their pockets to buy food," said Freddy Kaukungua, a top assistant to Swakopmund's mayor.

Hollywood producers often base their operations in Swakopmund but film mainly in the dunes of the Namib, which is the world's oldest and driest desert and runs along the country's long Atlantic coast. The desert's ethereal landscapes shift from soft orange to chalky white to rocky gray in a matter of miles, offering diverse scenery uncluttered by buildings or noisy traffic. One especially parched, jagged section of the Namib is known simply as "the Moonscape."

"Beyond Borders," "Flight of the Phoenix" and "10,000 B.C.," which is due for release next year, were all filmed in the Namib. And "Beyond Borders," though not a popular hit, led to a massive dose of international publicity for Swakopmund when the movie's star, Angelina Jolie, later moved to the town for more than a month with her partner, Brad Pitt, for the birth of their child.

"That marketing . . . ah!" said Almuth Styles, owner of Namib-i, a tourism information office in Swakopmund. "You can't pay for it. It puts Namibia on the map."

"GallowWalker," an independent, low-budget production financed mainly by British investors, settled on the Namib after considering deserts in Spain, China, Mexico and New Mexico. Shooting outside the United States proved to be an auspicious decision because Snipes, the movie's only well-known star, had faced an arrest warrant on tax-related charges. He was arrested last week in Florida and released on bond.

Producer Joanne Reay, who also wrote the script, said the combination of low costs, decent infrastructure and lack of union wage requirements made Namibia appealing. But it was the scenery that closed the deal.

"It's absolutely everything that we wanted," Reay said. "You can shoot 360 degrees and never run out of the world you are creating."

For a western with sinister, supernatural elements, the Namib offered an unexpected bonus to "GallowWalker": At one of the desert shooting locations, a naturally occurring rock formation has an eerie resemblance to a skull, complete with eye sockets and a row of jagged teeth.

Reay was amazed at her good fortune. "All the set designs, done by God."