Sultan’s secret to be revealed in December in new Turkish film | sultanahmet1.com
Sultan's Secret
A film supported by the European Capital of Culture Agency will reveal the secrets of Sultan Abdulhamit II. 'Sultanın Sırrı' ( The Secret of the Sultan ), directed by Hakan Şahin, has a budget of 4 million Turkish Liras and tells the story of an American professor who learns the secrets of the sultan and pursues his mysterious chest at Topkapı Palace
With a cast drawn from Hollywood and ambitions of showing Istanbul sights both known and unknown to an international audience, a Turkish production team is putting the finishing touches on “Sultanın Sırrı” (The Secret of the Sultan).
With support from the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, the film, which has a budget of 4 million Turkish Liras, would showcase Istanbul locations, including Topkapı Palace, Yıldız Palace, the Istanbul Archaeology Museum and the Hagia Sophia, according to director Hakan Şahin.
“These are places known by the public,” Şahin said. “There are also ones that they don’t know. The set of the film’s final scene is underground tunnels. In this way, the audience will be able to see the places that they don’t have a chance to see.”
The film, which will be finished by December, will also be screened abroad, he said.
Şahin said the preparation process for the film with the producer and screenwriter Ömer Erbil took two years and added that they had wanted to include well-known Hollywood actors in their project, deciding to work with Emanuel Bettencourt and Marc Dacascos.
When asked about whether the film is intended to rival Ron Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code,” Şahin said: “It makes us proud to be compared to a big Hollywood production. But that film was a completely imaginary one, created by Dan Brown’s mind. But our story is real. This is our difference from the [Brown] film.”
‘Cinema not an industry in Turkey’
Turkey is still behind the United States and Europe in terms of its cinema, Şahin said.
“As cinema workers, we don’t even have a law [covering our work] here. We are a market only because we cannot become a sector, an industry. As the people of this market, we are trying to improve cinema,” he said.
“There are also serious initiations to make a law for cinema market. In this sense, producers have turned their eyes to world-renowned actors. Turkey has many actors like the ones in Hollywood, too. We have opened the doors. A Turkish director can work with an American actor just like an American director can work with a Turkish actor,” Şahin said.
Film dedicated to nephew
Dacascos said he recently came to Turkey but had not yet become involved in the film. “As far I see, this is a very professional film. There is a family atmosphere. They have made me feel at home.”
Bettencourt, tragically, said his nephew had died on the first day of the shooting.
“At first I did not know what to do but life goes on,” he said through tears. “I will spend all my energy for this film and dedicate this film to my nephew.”
Bettencourt said he was acting in a Turkish film for the first time and also expressed his pleasure at acting in a film with Dacascos once again after so many years.
Other actors in the film include Başak Daşman, Sinan Albayrak, Zeynep Beşerler, Şerif Sezer and Burak Sezer.
The film tells the story of an American professor, Carty Ciano, who learns the secrets of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II about crude oil. The professor comes to Istanbul and begins to work hard to find the sultan’s mysterious chest, kept in the depot of the Topkapı Palace Museum.